Rose Read
by Jocelyn Torrent
Summary: A character study into Rosalie, and whatever comes along with it.
1. Chapter 1

And I Am Not

She was sitting at her surprisingly ill-used vanity mirror. Her eyes were a dark honey color and she stared deeply into them, daring her reflection to make a move. It didn't. It was a coward and she allowed her eyes to gloss briefly over her perfected features before picking up a hairbrush. Limp wristed, she dragged it through her blonde curls. They gave way easily after years and years of being smoothed out, and bounced back to life the moment the brush left them be. Her movements were slow, meticulous and a façade as she listed to the commotion from downstairs. They were addressing her absence, which was exactly what she didn't want. Normally, when she exited a room, it was ignored. Everyone had long since learned to 'let Rosalie be.' The face in the mirror grimaced and while it should have marred the beautiful face, it only made it more complex. A complex beauty. How many times in how many decades had she heard that line? Footsteps were on the stairs, coming tentatively towards her. 'You're not a narcissist,' she chided herself, the beautiful curls swaying against her cheekbones as she shook her head. 'They're not coming to see you. Stop your pretentious thoughts. If you can't fight against your own stereotype, no one else will.'

The footsteps were in the hallway now, heading her way. They were light, the resulting creaks from the wooden floor mild. Female. Her tongue glided ever so cautiously over her lips as she stared into her own eyes again, watching as her lids closed, feeling as her lungs rose with air to an almost painful degree. When her lids lifted, she was staring back at onyx irises. Her chin quivered, noticeable only by someone with superbly inhuman eyes and she picked the brush back up, making no reaction to the knocks that were received by her door. She made no effort to answer them and the person behind the door seemed to understand for the door soon opened and the smell wafted into the room, filling her nostrils with such perfection that, if she was capable, would have resulted in tears. The guest watched her as she brushed her hair oh slowly, her eyes moving with each rise and fall of the sculpted pale hand.

"You have Rodin hands," the guest whispered, looking down at her chipped and worn nails. She removed the brush from her silken hair, and brought it slowly to rest on the vanity, staring at the back of her hand as she did so. Was she referring to the Clasped Hands, one of the most sensual and beautiful sculptures to date, or was she referring to the Hand of Devil, which needed no explanation? The guest watched her, not daring to speak further. She stopped breathing for a moment, feeling the wood give beneath her nails as she gripped for her self control. When she felt comfortable, for she would never consider breathing if she was unsure, she inhaled, and spoke for the first time, catching her guest off guard.

"You like Rodin." It was supposed to be a question, and yet her reserved nature would not allow it to be so. An innermost part of her resented this, but there was nothing to be done about it now as she turned and faced her quivering guest. Their eyes met, and the brunette in front of her suddenly seemed to find confidence.

"I love his hands." The brunette blushed and the scent hit her like a wave. She responded to it by closing her eyes, turning back to the welcoming vanity mirror. She hated it, and yet it craved her reflection. She could always spot it no matter where she was in the room, reflecting her, taunting her with her own beauty. Her guest laughed awkwardly and she faced her once more.

"Tell Alice that I'm sorry. I thought the rehearsal was over. Do I need to come back down? Because I'd rather not. No offense, Bella."

Bella shook her head much too violently for the point she was making, her hair swishing and fanning the scent everywhere. She watched as she could practically see it landed all over her bed, vanity, shelves like a fine, precious dust. "Alice didn't send me up here. I came here of my own volition."

'Volition,' she thought to herself. Sometimes Bella could surprise her with intellect, when she wasn't acting positively tawdry over Edward. It was embarrassing and while she was hardly one to consider herself a devout feminist, Bella's actions towards her brother could make her nonexistent blood boil. Bella had paused again and she looked her up and down, studying every textbook sign of nerves. Shaky hands, sweaty palms, her cheeks were always in a constant flush but she appeared to be blushing now and she was averting her eyes.

"I just, uh, wanted to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"You seemed to have a problem with my," she paused to clear her throat, "with my speech. I was wondering if you had some advice on it." Bella blushed again, shoving her hands deep within the pockets of her jacket. She looked her over again, grimacing at the dirty tennis shoes, the worn jeans and the jacket. Hardly the attire to wear to a rehearsal, even if it was just a rehearsal. However, she refrained from speaking her mind. One could bet that Alice had tried to reason with her on multiple occasions. Then her mind went to work toiling on Bella's words. There was no way that Bella was possibly that observant. Yes, she may have had a problem with the speech, but it wasn't one that could be fixed. Needless to say, she'd been torturing the girl for too long. She'd better start speaking before Bella literally melted into a puddle on the floor. Judging by the shift in scents in the room, she was sweating pretty profusely on her palms.

"Advice?"

"Yes, ma'am,"

"Ma'am?"

"I'm sorry. I say 'ma'am' when I'm nervous. And you seem like a ma'am to me." She bit her bottom lip, looking to the door as if it held sweet salvation. Something had to be done about this girl's nerves, but whatever it was could not be done for her. She hoped for a moment that Alice would come bounding up the stairs and take Bella away but no such hopeful sound was heard.

"Rosalie will be just fine, thank you," she said as politely as she could, gesturing to the bed bench to her left. Bella followed her hand, then nodded obediently as she took a seat. She played with the cream colored velvet of the bed bench, her head down. Rosalie also glanced at the bed bench. It was rare that anyone ever sat on it and she worried for a brief moment that Bella would leave an oily stain on the velvet. She considered telling her stop, but refrained, reminding herself that that's what bed benches were for.

"This is beautiful," Bella said distantly, running her hand down one of the dark cherry wood legs. Rosalie found herself unable to watch and she turned her head to stare at her palms, running through her knowledge of Rodin sculptures. "How old is this?" she asked, her voice just barely rising above a whisper.

"It came with a house we bought in the 30's. I decided to keep it."

"It's lovely."

"Thank you. Now, remind me again why you're here. Not that I'm not terribly fond of your company."

Bella chuckled, rolling her eyes and Rosalie found herself glad that she could make her smile, that Bella wasn't completely afraid of her. Certainly, they had their qualms but by no means did Rosalie dislike her. She was just reserved. At least, that was what everyone told Bella about her. "At the rehearsal today, when I gave my little speech about Edward, you didn't like it. What's wrong with it?"

"Bella, I apologize for my ignorance but I don't recall saying I didn't like it."

"No, no, you didn't say you didn't like it. I just knew you didn't."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because," Bella said lightly, holding up two fingers and pointing them both at Rosalie, "you averted your eyes." She flicked her hand away, copying the motion and Rosalie glared.

"I don't think that moving my eyes constitutes dislike for something."

Bella smiled as if she knew something that Rosalie wasn't in on. She leaned forward on the bed bench, daring Rosalie to look away, which of course Rosalie would not do. "Yes it does, Rosalie. Both you and I know that it does."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Rosalie. I've been in your life for three years and I can count the number of legitimate conversations we've had on my fingers. This is number eight, if you were wondering. And when someone's as…reserved as you, someone like me has to overcompensate for that. The way that I do that is by watching you, studying you. I think I can say with confidence now that I know when you're sad, angry, hurt and humored. During my speech you looked hurt. Are you going to tell me otherwise?"

Were Rosalie not so pristine, she would have allowed her mouth to fall open. Of course that action was out of the question so she settled for glaring and watched as Bella's eyes ran over her features. They lingered, she thought, on her red lips but Rosalie could pay no mind to that. Even her family members raked over her beauty every now and then. It was something she'd learned to tolerate and even ignore. Bella, however, was a new case. "Bella, there's nothing wrong with your speech. And even if there was, why should my opinion matter?"

"Your opinion matters the most because you care less," she answered quickly, as if she'd been waiting for that question. Rosalie felt her brow furrow in mock anger so that she could keep Bella at bay for awhile. Contradictorily, Bella smiled again, pointing at Rosalie's brow. "See, now you're confused."

"I'm not sure I like this, you reading me so easily," Rosalie snarled, causing Bella and her confidence to recoil. Rosalie smirked as if to show Bella that she'd won and also as a warning to watch her boundaries. The brunette nodded and Rosalie closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. While Bella's scent was completely alluring, it was also calming and in a few breaths she was perfectly fine with the guest in her room.

"Back to my point," Bella continued softly, "because you don't care, you are the least biased when making decisions. I'm tired of everyone just playing off of what I want without any real opinions. Your eye aversion today was the best comment I've gotten about this wedding yet."

"I thought you were letting Alice do all the work anyway," Rosalie countered, trying desperately to ignore the voice in her head that wanted to tell Bella she was wrong. She was just as, if not more biased than the rest of the family. Hers were just out of favor with the others.

"Alice is doing most of the work. But she's still asking me and grilling me on every little detail. It's like I'm doing the thinking, she's just bringing it to life, you know? But she won't offer counter opinions like I thought she would. I was hoping that you would." Bella took her lip in her bottom teeth again, a habit that the blonde abhorred but kept quiet about. After thinking for a few moments, she finally spoke, turning to face the mirror as she did.

"I don't like gushing. You were gushing. It's a matter of preferences, nothing more." She watched Bella in the mirror as she spoke, their eyes never leaving each other. Bella nodded slowly, almost as if she regretted asking and Rosalie thought that it served her right.

"This isn't sarcasm or anything. I'm just gonna say that in advance. How can I write about Edward and loving him without gushing?" She stared at Rosalie for a moment before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a sheet of paper. Rosalie could easily see the chicken scratched writing on it and knew that it was Bella's handwritten speech. She quickly ran through the speech in her mind. Then she compared it with Edward's speech. If she had to choose she would say that Edward's was better. It was sweet and thoughtful and made her want to gag herself with the fake flowers hanging on the altar. Bella's, while showing talent in writing, didn't seem to do anything for her but make her angry. She could tell, watching Bella read it, that Bella hadn't a clue what to write and what she did write she wrote because she thought she had to. That was what had angered Rosalie. That among another thing that need not be mentioned.

Bella continued to read through her speech, her eyes darting back and forth quickly as she chomped on her lip. Rosalie watched her for a moment, then watched out the paper shook more than necessary in her palms. Letting out a fairly obvious sigh, Rosalie grabbed a pen from her vanity and stood, gliding over to Bella and sitting down before the poor human could even look up. She opened her palm and Bella placed the speech in her expectant hand. Rosalie read it through quickly, the end of the pen tapping gingerly against her chin as she did so. Bella's eyes were upon her, not the speech and Rosalie fought to hide her smirk as she clicked the pen opened and circled a sentence.

"'Edward and I are perfect for each other; any fool can see that.' Now, do you really want to insult the guests? And here…there should be a comma, not a semicolon. I feel like the word 'love' is too present in this paragraph. This sentence needs reworking. I don't feel the emotion you're trying to convey here…." Rosalie continued on for the better part of three minutes, correcting everything she saw wrong with the speech. When she actually read through it, there wasn't all that much that needed to be done with it as she thought. Bella listened carefully and much to the blonde's delight, she offered insightful feedback. In fact, the feedback seemed to be prepared beforehand, as if Bella already knew what was wrong with the speech. Rosalie didn't quite know what to think of that.

They finished after awhile and Rosalie clicked the pen shut, handing it to Bella should she need it later. Bella took it from her and when they're fingers brushed Rosalie noticed that Bella had slowed her movements. Their fingers then brushed for longer than necessary and Rosalie watched them glide across each other, temperature and color clashing boldly with the black pen between. When the pen was finally in her grasp, Bella smiled and looked into the blonde's eyes. "Well, thank you. I won't take up any more of your time." She hesitated then, her body leaning forward then back as if she'd considered something, then stopped. That action was then followed by an awkward cough and Bella stood quickly, overwhelming Rosalie with her scent. She stood as well, to better escape the wave of desire suddenly put upon her and walked Bella to the door, pulling it open for her. Bella stepped halfway through before stopping short, taking Rosalie by surprise. She fumbled with the speech in her hand then looked to the vampire again.

"You don't know how much I appreciate this. Really, thank you again. And I liked this talk. I hope we can do it again." She licked her lips and continued to the banister without waiting for Rosalie's response. Rosalie watched her, mulling over the words and the possible dual meaning behind them. No, no she didn't like this. She didn't like being out of the loop. In a momentary loss of reserve, she called out to Bella, who had just reached the top stair. Bella turned around, appropriately surprised and waited for her to continue. Rosalie hesitated then, unsure of what to say next. That bothered her as well. Bella was beginning to look confused and Rosalie found herself panicking. She panicked, and spoke the only word that wouldn't ruin whatever reputation she'd created for herself.

"Why?"

Bella blushed, tracing her fingers along the wooden banister. Rosalie noticed this and also noticed that her hands were not as bad as originally thought. There was about thirty more seconds of silence and Rosalie felt herself growing nervous. She really shouldn't have instigated this conversation. Something had to be done. "Well?" she asked, tapping her foot with impatient intimidation. Her hopes were that it would scare Bella into providing some copout that would leave them both in peace. However, Bella just shrugged, murmuring in a tone so hushed that Rosalie herself could just make it out.

"Because you're a god."

The words echoed throughout Rosalie's mind, searching for subtext and all possible meanings, trying to fit the pieces together before Bella left and broke her concentration. However, Bella did it before leaving, by breaking out into an embarrassed chuckle. "And I am not. And I just thought I'd let you go."

Rosalie frowned, stepping out into the hall. "What are you talking about?"

"The nineties…a great time for music because the music said it all. I've got to go. Edward's waiting. Thank you again." With that she turned and headed down the stairs. Rosalie could hear the conversations downstairs. About how Bella was returning, she'd made it out alive, Rosalie wasn't following. Rosalie ignored them, retreating back into her room and closing the door behind her. She walked slowly to her bed, lying down on her stomach. Light was shining through a slit in her closed shades and she watched the collected dust rise into the air. With the faintest of smiles, she inhaled, and decided to lay there for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

Locks

She moved quietly, her hands grazing slowly on the carpet, sensually almost, feeling for it. There had to be tons, she assumed, judging by how often the girl had it cut. Or rather, how often she didn't have it cut. On her hands and knees she crawled along the floor, her ears finely tuned to the door. If someone were to come in, who knows what kind of troubles would ensue should she still be on the floor in this state. It looked weak. And Rosalie Hale was by no means weak. Crawling on the carpet was simply something she had to do. Something, some mechanism in her erudite brain called for it, required it. And she had to obey, lest she spend the evening attempting to cry, and failing at that too. Her nails raked along the fibers, leaving dark and obvious scratch marks. She hissed at her stupidity, bringing herself to sit on her knees. Her hands were brought to eye level as she examined the nails for damage. There was none but caught on the nail of her ring finger was what she had been looking for.

A hair.

A long strand of brown hair. Her golden eyes focused on the strand as she slowly pulled it from her grasp, watching as it recoiled once freed. She grabbed it between two sculpted fingers and pulled it to its longest length at about a foot. She looked to the door again, glaring at it, then turned back to the hair. Her pristine nose was placed over it and she inhaled. There was no scent to be had. It was dead before it had fallen. She knew this and she grimaced at her ignorance. Her hand was then cast out, palm downward, hoping to rid herself from this binding. But the hair stayed locked to her finger. She watched it, tightening her jaw. Something as trite as this should not be reducing her to what would be tears. Who was she? What was she doing? Reducing herself to all fours looking for hair that wasn't hers?

But it could have been hers. It could have been hers. Rosalie took a deep breath, feeling the staccato leaps in her lungs as she tried to keep her reserve. Her cold skin met its match in her mind. And her eyes travelled back to the dim alley way of Rochester. She could smell the alcohol and sweat in her nostrils, hear the drunken laughter, the sound of heels on cobblestones. The inside of her jaw began to ache and the bedroom was no more as she looked on, a fallen angel, at her own demise. She had been so lovely, so talented. He had been so drunk. Her own scream echoed through her ears and she watched the snow fall, untouched on the wanting street.

"Rosalie?" And like sweet water the scent filled her aching throat. The street diminished before her eyes and the clean cream carpet came into view. And she was on her knees. And there was someone else in the room. She was on her feet before the human could even register the move. She was taller than Bella by a few inches and she used it to her advantage as she strode past her, glaring down her nose at the girl. She heard the sound of a heartbeat racing and headed out the door, pocketing the lone hair as she went.

The human wouldn't suspect a thing. Such ignorance was bliss. One that was enviable, indeed. However, what Rosalie failed to notice was that while she was reliving the past that would never have a future, Bella had come in. She had come in and seen Rosalie on her knees. Rosalie, weakened, staring thoughtfully at a piece of hair. A piece of brunette hair, her hair. She was cradling it in her hands, lost in her own thoughts. Bella headed over to where Rosalie had been and kneeled down, running her fingers along the carpet. She came across four ridges and saw the claw marks in the fiber. She also felt the carpet give under palms and grabbed the invisible culprit. Lifting her hands, she saw her hair. It must have fallen from her hairbrush. She looked at it, held it to her ordinary nose and smelled nothing. She frowned, looking towards the door, just making out Rosalie's door slamming from across the hall. Something was up with this. She wanted answers. But she sure as hell wasn't going to get them from Rosalie.

"Hey, Alice?" Bella asked as she watched her footing down the stairs. Alice looked up from her solitaire game, eager to answer whatever Bella was about to ask. Bella made it to the couch as Alice picked up the cards, shuffling them as she watched her best friend. "I was wondering, does your hair grow?" Alice smiled and shook her head, dealing the cards to Bella. She had no clue what they were playing but it didn't matter now.

"No, it stops growing the minute we die. So we take careful measures to make sure it stays firmly in our skulls. I mean, like us, it's a bit more industrial, but it doesn't hurt to be careful." She sighed whimsically, placing the rest of the cards between them and picking up her dealt cards. "You should see Rosalie brush her hair. It takes her hours. She runs the comb through so slowly, watching the teeth should anything catch. I don't think she's lost a single strand since her transformation. She really loves her hair." Bella looked up at the pixie and to anyone else, wouldn't have noticed a thing. But Bella noticed her look around and noticed the way her fingers caressed and smoothed the cards in her hands. She noticed the tiny crease in her brow. And she saw the love Alice held for her sister and realized that there was more to Alice's words than vanity. "Hey, aren't you going to play?" she asked as Bella stood from the couch. Bella smiled, tussling Alice's hair gently as she walked past her.

"I thought actually I'd take a shower. May I use your bathroom?" The pixie nodded, her lighthearted expression fading to one of curiosity as Bella turned away from her and headed up the stairs. She watched until Bella disappeared from sight, then listened, counting the steps to her room and only when she heard the sound of running water did she relax, trying to distract herself from intrusive visions of Bella in the shower.

The fall afternoon had done Rosalie some good. She felt a bit more at peace, though not entirely nor perennially. She held her palm outstretched in the autumn wind, the treasured hair weaving in and out of her perfect fingers. The wind picked up and she watched the hair sadly, giving a flick of her wrist and watching again as it carried with the wind before nestling itself somewhere in the grass. Then she cleared her throat and turned around, heading back to the house. No one greeted her when she came in through the back door and she listened for anyone in the house. There was the faint beat of Bella's heart and Alice was perhaps doing something in the dining room. At least she wasn't entirely alone. Her delicate hand ran down the banister as she walked and she felt the dust collecting on her fingertips. She reached her door and held up her hand, maneuvering the fingers and watching as dust sprinkled off of them. Satisfied after a moment or two she opened her door and stepped inside.

The scent hit her instantly and the heartbeat thundered in her mind for a few moments before she could suppress it. Her jaw tightened and she looked to her left. Sitting on the bench in front of her vanity mirror was Bella. Her hair was wet, curling slightly at the tips and staining her grey shirt to a darker shade. Bella looked up at her and smiled with a nervous confidence that Rosalie didn't seem to understand. She glared, bringing her hand to rest on her hip. One eyebrow rose and Bella read the question instantly, taking a deep breath and picking her comb up off of the vanity. She looked at it for a moment, making music as she dragged her finger across the teeth. Then she turned and held it out to Rosalie.

Rosalie did not move. But her eyes did fall to the comb and in those eyes Bella saw the answers to Alice's expression. The vampire swallowed and Bella could just make out the fabric of her jeans swaying along with her ever so softly tapping foot. She extended her hand further and Rosalie's eyes met hers. She did not glare, but she did not do anything else either. Feeling confident, Bella used the comb to gesture to Rosalie to come closer. "It will grow back," she whispered, watching as Rosalie closed her eyes. Her jaw was set to clench and Bella could hear the faint sound of her teeth grinding together. Rosalie lowered her head, took a deep breath, then raised her head, taking the comb from Bella's hand.

Hiding her smile by biting her lip, Bella turned to face the vanity, watching in the mirror as Rosalie came to stand behind her. She started with the back, placing her cool hand on the top of Bella's head, sliding it down until it rested in the curls at the bottom. Bella felt Rosalie's facile fingers running through them, smoothing them out. Then the comb was added. She started at the bottom, working gently at the tangles with exquisite faultlessness before she moved up further and further. It was taking a long time, but it was time that the both of them had. After about five minutes or so, Rosalie had reached the top of Bella's head. Their eyes met in the mirror for the briefest of moments before Rosalie slowly brought the comb down. The comb did not hitch once and when she ran out of hair Rosalie picked it up to do it again when it caught in the light.

It caught in the light of the room, a single brown hair, and Rosalie watched it as it fell to the floor, her floor. Bella swallowed, taking in the reaction of the vampire. The hair had fallen to the floor and Rosalie stared at it for a moment. Then she turned and met Bella's eyes in the mirror again, bringing the brush up. Bella allowed herself the faintest of smiles and closed her eyes as Rosalie began her meticulous methods again. "Did Alice tell you that I'm actually considering college now?" Bella dared, her voice just barely above a whisper, not wanting to ruin the quiet. Rosalie's eyes flashed downward, then upward, then met the human's and she nodded slowly, very clearly listening. Bella nodded, feeling resistance on her hair and she shot an apologetic face to the vampire before continuing. "Yeah, I want to go to college now. I mean, you really, really need an education to do anything these days. I was also thinking of becoming a teacher. What do you think?"

Rosalie stopped combing for a moment, her eyes focused on the teeth of the comb. Another hair had fallen and entwined itself within the teeth. She decided to leave it and nodded slowly, her eyes still on the task at hand and Bella watched as her lips pursed together. That was as close to a smile as she would probably ever get from Rosalie Hale and Bella couldn't help but feel a little bit proud of herself. And Rosalie.


	3. Chapter 3

Hot Rod

"Alice, really, I can just take it to a garage, or Jacob's. She doesn't have to—

"Bella, I thought you wanted to become all buddy-buddy with Rosalie. Isn't that why you showed up in her room with your hair wet…in nothing but a towel…with eyes that told her—

"I was not in a towel! Shut up!" Bella laughed, pushing at Alice's shoulder. Alice giggled and shrugged innocently before she stopped in front of the large barn located in the back of the Cullen's property. "Besides," Bella said, stopping Alice before she could open the door, "I don't think she likes me. If it's possible she's distanced herself even more from me." She sighed and Alice smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What were you expecting, Bella?"

"I don't know. I'm not trying to pry into her personal life or play Freud to it but I just want to be…comfortable with her. And I want her to be comfortable with me. I don't know how to do that."

"Other than showing up in a towel in her room. I understand that."

"Shut up. I wasn't in a towel, much to the disdain of your fantasies."

Alice laughed again for a moment before her expression turned serious. She shrugged lightly and threw her eyes to the partly cloudy sky. "Rosalie is a beautifully complex person. It's taken the two of us years to get where we are and I'm certain that I don't even know a sixteenth of what she really thinks. I really admire you for this, Bella, trying to become her friend and all. But don't take it personally if she doesn't accept you immediately. Because you don't know what she's thinking. Even Edward has to really concentrate to break into her thoughts. She's just an enigma like that. Don't get yourself hurt. But if you start to feel like it's heading that way, then pull back. Rosalie won't take it personally." She smiled, giving a provoking nod. Bella returned it. Alice's words weren't what she wanted to hear. She wanted advice, not a warning. But the pixie meant well and she smiled to show her appreciation.

"I really like how you're warning me to stay away and yet you're forcibly dragging me into this garage."

"What can I say, I like to watch." She tapped her head and Bella rolled her eyes. "Besides, Rosalie agreed to look at your truck. That's got to be a good sign, right?" Alice smirked, flashing Bella a wink as she opened the doors to the barn, which had long since been converted to a garage for their several cars. Bella really should have been used to it by now but the Cullens had so much money. It was shocking every time she noticed Alice's expensive clothes or the Brunei Fazioli piano Edward played on or when she stepped into this garage. She was no car person but no one could mistake the signature design of a Lamborghini and there were two in this very carport. And the top notch brands from other companies weren't excluded either. BMW, Mercedes, Infinite, Cadillac, Ford, all lined up in perfect diagonal rows like a showroom. Bella sighed intensely as she walked with Alice down the middle of the two rows and Alice grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze for reassurance.

When they reached the end of the line Bella saw her Chevy. Old, red and looking terribly out of place it loomed embarrassingly over the other cars. She blushed when she saw it and Alice let go of her hand as Rosalie came into view. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, the ends curling beautifully as if she'd had her ponytail created by some French hairstylist. She was in basic jeans and a tee shirt and Bella noticed that on her feet, while they were mostly hidden by the jeans, were tennis shoes. She didn't think Rosalie owned tennis shoes let alone would wear them. When Bella finally met Rosalie's face, she was glaring. That wasn't unexpected and the fact that it wasn't comforted the brunette. At least there was some bit of normalcy still in this garage. Alice looked back and forth between Bella and Rosalie before sighing with boredom and giving Bella a hug. "Well, I'll leave the two of you to it," she chirped before flashing out of the barn.

Alice was gone and Bella was once again, left alone with Rosalie. But it was different this time. These weren't her terms. They were Rosalie's. And that thought pretty well scared her to death. She could feel Rosalie's eyes on her but today found that she was unable to meet them. Rosalie didn't waste too much time on staring, however, and quickly turned to the car, lifting up the hood. "Car won't start," she said as a matter of fact. Bella nodded and Rosalie looked at her again. "How?"

"Huh?"

"Does it make a sound when you try to start it?"

"Oh, um, like rrrrrr-rrrrrr-," Bella was growling and her cheeks were flushed to what she was sure was a wonderful shade of red. Rosalie ignored it, much to Bella's gratitude and extended her hand. Bella pulled the keys from her pocket and placed them in Rosalie's expectant palm, watching as Rosalie opened the door and climbed halfway in. She met Bella's eyes and waved her hand, motioning for Bella to step back. Bella looked at the raised hood and stepped away, thankful that Rosalie had mentioned it. She tried starting the truck twice and nodded both times before she stepped out.

"Your battery's almost dead. Your engine's also grinding." She was more muttering to herself than Bella however Bella was more than content to watch. Rosalie was so focused and…and happy. Alice wasn't kidding when she had mentioned that Rosalie enjoyed working on cars. It was interesting to see her happy. It made Bella happy to see her happy. After a minute or two of prodding around under the hood Rosalie turned around and tossed the keys at Bella. She dropped them, blushing again as she hurried to pick them up. "Try starting it again, please." Bella nodded and hurried over to her truck. She gave the dashboard a quick pat of love before she turned the key. The same noise resulted and Bella made out Rosalie's hand over the hood, telling her to stop. "It's your generator," Rosalie said as Bella came around the hood. She looked so proud of herself, like she knew the answer all along. Bella smiled at her and Rosalie looked over at her, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Do you speak car at all?" she asked, almost annoyed. Bella shook her head and Rosalie made a face that just screamed 'typical human.' But before Bella could dwell on it, Rosalie was speaking again. "Okay, newer cars have what's called an alternator. It's in charge of nonessentials such as the radio, air conditioner and headlights. Your truck, being so old, has a generator. But your generator is failing. My suggestion is converting the generator to an alternator along with a new battery."

"Oh…okay. How much is that going to cost?" Bella asked, shoving her hands into her pockets. Discussing money around the Cullens, especially Rosalie, was always hard. They were so different. And the Cullens weren't by any means haughty about their wealth, but it didn't make it any easier. She blushed again and looked to Rosalie, was staring intently at her. Her brow furrowed in confusion and she slid her hand along the car engine as she spoke.

"Did I say I was charging?"

"Um, no,"

"Then I wouldn't worry about it."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were offering to help. Thank you." Bella looked down, scared and intimidated out of her wits. When she wasn't in charge of the situation her interaction with Rosalie was strikingly different. It did give her good cardio, however. Rosalie didn't respond to Bella's last comment and instead went to work on the truck. Bella watched her, noting that she was getting dust and grime and what looked like oil all over her forearms. Rosalie's arms were…dirty. Bella had to work hard to not let her jaw drop to the floor. The blonde vampire was always pristine, always clean and perfect. And now…it was quite a blow to the head. Bella didn't quite know how to comprehend it.

"What are you staring at?" Rosalie asked, still looking around in the truck.

"Your arms are dirty," Bella answered, still in disbelief. Rosalie shot up then, her head narrowly missing slamming into the raised hood. The wrench she was holding in her hand was slammed down. Her eyes fell down upon Bella and formed their infamous glare. Bella swallowed, looking away as she felt her cheeks burn. She didn't even notice that Rosalie had moved but apparently she did for in seconds she was towering over the human. Bella, still looking down, was able to see more of Rosalie's arms. The grime travelled all the way down her slender wrists and was nearly covering her fingers entirely. Rosalie was too close, she didn't like this. Bella backed up a bit and found herself leaning against the next car in the long line of automobiles. She looked up just in time to see Rosalie upon her again. She was pressing against Bella now and the human had nowhere to go, so she just looked into the blonde's eyes, which were filled with an astonishing rage. She could feel Rosalie's cold breath on her and her thighs pressing into her. She could see her dark red lips, pursed and beautiful and she could smell the oil and grime mixed with Rosalie's own scent in another form of perfection.

"Is there a problem with that?" she asked coldly. Bella tried to look away again but Rosalie's hand shot out, grabbing the base of her chin and keeping her head steady. The motion was gentle, but quick and Bella gasped a bit. Rosalie's eyes softened at that for just a moment before becoming hard again. "Well?"

"N-n-no," Bella answered, struggling to keep her breathing normal. "It's just unexpected."

"Is it? Well, I'm certainly glad you were here to see it. Now you can write it down in your little observation journal and hypothesize about the freak that is Rosalie Hale. Right? That's what you're doing right? That's what you've been doing, isn't it?" Her voice was bitter and it stung Bella down to the core. Despite her fear, she managed to shake her head.

"No, no you've got it all wrong."

"Then enlighten me!"

Rosalie's hand fell from her face and Bella could feel the leftover oil seeping into her chin. Taking one small step back, to where they were only inches apart instead of touching, Rosalie crossed her arms, dirtying her shirt, and waited. Bella regained her breath and steadied herself against the car she was leaning on. Rosalie watched her do so and when the human still did not answer she sighed, the creases disappearing from her brow. "What do you want from me?" she asked more softly than Bella had ever heard. Bella brushed her hair behind her ears and licked her lips. What could be better than the truth, right? Taking a deep breath, she decided to be just as open with Rosalie as she was with Alice.

"I just want us to be comfortable with each other, Rose. I like you, a lot. I'm not kidding myself, though. You and I both know that you can scare the life out of me with one glance. But…you've always been there. And with Edward and the wedding and such…I thought I'd try to get closer to you. But, if you don't like me…if you'd rather be left in peace…I can go." She looked down again, feeling her copout radiate down to her kneecaps. She hadn't wanted to add that last sentence on but she panicked. She only hoped that Rosalie wouldn't take that option, though that seemed unlikely.

"You will never understand me." And that was all that Rosalie said. Bella considered retaliating somehow but found that she didn't know how. Rosalie's tone was piteous or depressed, it was adamant. If anyone other than Rosalie had said that, Bella would have considered them emo. But Rosalie was different. Only Bella didn't know how she was different. And, according to the vampire, that was something she would never understand.

Rosalie was then silent and Bella didn't dare look up to see what she was thinking. She wasn't really up for losing her head today. But the silence was killing her. She wanted Rosalie to…well, she didn't know what she wanted Rosalie to do. But she wanted her to at least do something. Something to indicate that Bella wasn't a complete idiot in her efforts. Finally, a loud sigh was heard and then the sound of metal on metal. Bella dared a glance and saw that Rosalie was back to looking in the pickup. Her face was hard, contemplative and Bella realized she had no real control over her feet as they led her back over to the hood of her truck. She leaned against it, watching as Rosalie worked with fervor, occasionally disappearing from Bella's human eyes to grab another socket and reappear before her. After a few more minutes of silent working, Rosalie lifted herself from the hood, a large metal object in her hand. She studied it for a moment, tossing it from one hand to another before she set it down, disappearing and returning with a towel.

"I'm going to have to order the alternator. It'll take a week or two at most. You can drive one of these while we wait." She gestured lazily to the millions of dollars worth of cars in the garage and Bella couldn't help her jaw from falling open. Surely she couldn't be serious. But she wasn't going to argue with her today. So instead Bella thanked her quietly. Rosalie finished wiping her hands on the towel and then tossed it to her, gesturing to her chin. Bella nodded and attempted to wipe her face as Rosalie closed the lid of the hood. She slammed it down a little harder than necessary and rested her hands on the top. Bella watched as her fingers flexed against the red metal. She stared straight ahead into the car, as if there was someone in the driver's seat. Bella finished wiping her face and watched her as she watched the invisible person, stepping just a bit further.

"If I could have any profession in the world," Rosalie started quietly, "I would restore antique cars and auction them to enthusiasts." She continued staring for a moment before looking down at her hands. They were much cleaner than before but were still stained from the oil. She sighed and looked to Bella again, turning her head slightly.

"Edward's returned. You'll want to tell him of your escapades, I'm sure," she said distantly, picking up the towel that Bella had laid on the truck and wiping her hands again. Bella nodded, taking cautious steps towards the door. Rosalie watched her and when they were beside each other, Bella stopped. She looked to Rosalie then back at herself. Then she took a step forward and embraced the cold vampire. Rosalie went rigid in her arms and Bella squeezed her tightly. There was something compelling about touching Rosalie, especially after today. And if it resulted in Rosalie never speaking to Bella again or even killing her, then right now, Bella thought it was pretty much worth it. Just as Bella was about to pull away, she felt tentative fingertips on her shoulders. Rosalie was still tense, but she exhaled slowly and Bella put her out of her distress by letting her go. This time it was Rosalie's turn to look away, looking rather tormented, and Bella smiled at her before heading out of the garage.


	4. Chapter 4

Shower

The details were a little murky, but did that matter now? The only thing that Bella could really focus on was the fact that, as Alice had joked, she now was in Rosalie's room…in a towel. She ran a hand through her hair and determined that it was wet, so the towel was logical. However, being in Rosalie's room was definitely not logical. A certain type of fear welled up within her as she stood to leave. Simultaneously with her standing, the door flew open.

There she was. There was Rosalie, fully clothed in the same clothes she had worn when fixing her truck, except that her hair was now down. Bella tried to look past the vampire and into the hall, hoping that maybe someone, anyone had been following her and would be able to save her from whatever damage was about to ensue. But the hallway was black and presumably, empty. Bella heard the intake of a sharp breath and then found herself staring into a pair of blackened eyes. Rosalie's perfect hand was placed on the doorknob, toying with it as she lightly swung the door back and forth and back and forth. Bella watched it lazily, feeling the motions relax her. Rosalie was also moving. Swaying, rather, with her brow furrowed. It was as if she was contemplating racing out the door or closing it behind her as she entered. A predicament indeed. One that Bella could certainly relate to.

She looked into the eyes of the vampire then and could see the lights of the ceiling reflecting back onto them as if she had multiple glowing irises upon a blackened sclera. She looked like an alien.

She looked like a monster.

A monster that, somehow, Bella did not fear. Because in those feral looking eyes Bella saw something that lurked beneath. And that something was fear. And the more she looked the more she saw it. She saw the hand just barely quivering on the doorknob and she saw the knees that threatened themselves to buckle. And she saw in Rosalie's face and the way she looked at her, her eyes flitting back and forth between Bella's own and the pulse that sounded strongly in her neck.

In spite of her situation Bella felt herself smiling. While she knew she should be reciprocating that fear, that her survival instincts should have kicked in by now, Bella felt…pleased. Pleased that Rosalie was struggling so greatly with her hunger. Not because she was a sadist. Because she hated seeing anyone of the Cullen family troubled by her scent. But because it showed that Rosalie cared. In all honesty, Bella had expected to be thrown (literally) from the room the minute Rosalie opened her dark eyes. She'd even clutched her towel tighter in hopes that it wouldn't fall off when she was flying through the air. But Rosalie did not.

Instead, she stood waiting. Waiting for whatever it was that Bella was in here for. Whether it be a question or another hair brush or nothing, Rosalie stood waiting to receive it. And that told Bella that she cared. That caused her to smile again and she watched as Rosalie's shoulders sank, not as rigid as they once were. She seemed just a bit more relaxed however all the more hesitant and Bella found herself standing, watching as the vampire tensed again.

Slowly, she made her way over to Rosalie, watching her as she did. Rosalie was taking on the impression of an abused dog, watching her sadly, as if she knew what was coming, but still with an air of hope that this person might somehow be different.

And Bella was different.

She reached Rosalie and placed her hand over the one that held its grasp on the doorknob. She swung the both of their hands and pulled Rosalie's off of the knob as the door swung and closed firmly behind them. Bella brought their now entwined hands up and placed Rosalie's knuckles against her cheek. They were cold but smooth and when Bella let her own hand fall, the knuckles stayed. They travelled slowly down Bella's cheek and turned into delicate fingertips as they swept over the column of her neck. Bella breathed slowly through her nose, not wanting to forcibly tempt the vampire.

Rosalie brought her other hand up and grasped Bella's left cheek, her fingers splaying out into her damp hair. Bella closed her eyes feeling one of the phantom hands caress her bare shoulder. It was so delicate. Had Bella not been so finely attuned to her body at the moment, she never would have felt any of this. She heard another exhaled, meaning that Rosalie had started breathing again. She opened her eyes again and saw that Rosalie's eyes had diluted now to dark amber. And her eyes were curious. She looked to Bella with a furrowed brow that told her of her curiosity and Bella found herself unable to speak.

Cautiously, she brought her own warm hand up to Rosalie's face. She paused before touching, noting that Rosalie had tensed again. But she made no motion to stop her. Bella licked her lips and placed her hand against the cool vampire. It was so soft. So velvety smooth that Bella felt her calloused hand upon it was insulting. She drew her hand away quickly and jumped when the vampire caught it. The motion was gentle and Bella could see that Rosalie was merely holding her wrist by her fingertips. The vampire swallowed and her fingers travelled upwards until her hand was laced with Bella's. The brunette felt the hand on her shoulder tighten just a bit, then pull her towards Rosalie. She complied instantly, closing her eyes when she felt the cool lips upon her.

Rosalie moved so very slowly, testing with what Bella thought was unnecessary meticulousness. But she could hardly complain. Rosalie's lips were fuller than Edward's and a different kind of cold. And the motions were slow, but very intimate. Bella felt herself being pulled even closer and she brought her free hand up to wrap it behind the vampire's neck, being very careful not to catch the pristine locks of gold as she did so. Rosalie made a sort of sound and began moving just a bit faster. Bella smiled as best as she could in her position and easily complied, feeling the trace amounts of venom entering her mouth. It was potent, but by no means unpleasant. Sort of like a strong, undiluted cinnamon. She recalled briefly that Edward's was more like strong black licorice and molasses. Not unpleasant either, but she decided that she liked the cinnamon more. And it was definitely better than the resulting burn should her skin break.

Rosalie was now using both of her hands to keep Bella pressed against her and for a moment Bella thought that she felt the vampire's mouth quiver with uncertainty before it opened just a bit wider. Bella felt the cool tongue and allowed herself a small moan of pleasure as the kiss increased to a pace she rather enjoyed and a pace that Edward rarely dared. Hands travelled down her sides, just barely finishing the hem of her towel and grazing skin before they made their way back up. Bella's hands travelled to Rosalie's waist and she pinned her against herself, should she try and run away. It was a maneuver Bella had perfected long ago with Edward. And Rosalie didn't seem to mind complying, for a bit.

A growl was then heard and without breaking the kiss, Bella was swooped up into Rosalie's strong arms. She walked then, at human pace, towards her ill-used bed and laid Bella down with the softest of ease, lowering herself on top of her as she did so. Her hair felt around Bella in a sort of veil and Bella smiled as the scent of Rosalie washed over her. Gone was the scent of grease and oil and instead there was nothing but the scent of freshly fallen rain and sweet mint. So crisp and pure and so genuinely Rosalie. Bella pushed herself further into Rosalie's mouth, the desire bordering on lack of sanity. Rosalie returned the kiss with equal greed as her hand ran over the top of Bella's exposed chest before resting on the knot of the towel that laid there.

The kiss was broke then as Rosalie lifted herself up, her eyes never leaving Bella's. Then she just stayed there, waiting and staring. Bella sighed, unsure of how to handle all of this and growing mildly impatient due to the sudden stop. Rosalie's eyes flashed to the knot and then back to Bella's and Bella couldn't help but smile as she placed her hand over Rosalie's and broke the knot. The towel fell limply to either side of the human and while Bella felt certain that she would blush, none came. Because the look in Rosalie's eyes was so tender and so perfect that she had no need to feel self-conscious, even in the presence of such a god.

Rosalie lifted her hand slowly, caressing the top of Bella's chest and watching as it slid down the middle of her torso, to her belly button and back up again. Bella fought hard not to writhe beneath the vampire's touch but it proved impossible. Rosalie was gaining more confidence with every touch and fairly soon Bella was fighting to keep her noises at a respectable level. During this time Rosalie had somehow leaned in to kiss her again and Bella was grateful for that, as it muffled her sounds. She clawed at Rosalie's back, her pelvis rocking back and forth of its own accord as her hands finally found the end of Rosalie's shirt. She pulled up and Rosalie broke the kiss for just a moment as she allowed the shirt to slip off of her. Bella tried to catch a glance but found that she couldn't as Rosalie was back on top of her again.

She tried to maneuver her hands around to at least feel what she couldn't but Rosalie rested on top of her. And now Bella could feel them pressing against her smaller breasts but it still wasn't enough. She moaned in an assortment of aggravation only to gasp as she felt Rosalie's hand on her thigh. It was rubbing slow circles that grew wider and wider and eventually her hand was resting between her legs. The kiss was broken and Bella looked up anxiously into Rosalie's eyes.

And she saw the fear again…and nervousness. Bella thought that Rosalie, of all people, would have been confident sexual wise. Surely she knew more in her 70 plus years and Emmett always seemed pleased. But here she was, looking to Bella, the virgin, for advice. It was…sweet. Bella smiled and trailed her hand down Rosalie's poised arm, stopping when she reached her wrist. She leaned up and kissed Rosalie tenderly, whispering her name into her mouth. Then she pulled away and let go of Rosalie's wrist. Rosalie smiled, somewhat more confident, and Bella rested her head on the pillow, preparing for ecstasy.

The sheets were sweaty and stifling. Bella found herself unable to breath and she shot up, her eyes unadjusted to the dark room. She finally caught her breath and took great gasps, feeling the throbbing in her head subside. However, after that ceased she soon became aware of another throbbing down below and gasped into the empty room. But the room wasn't empty. She knew this. She just had to find…

Edward was sitting in a chair in the corner, watching her. He was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his fists pressed against his mouth. Even in the darkness Bella could see that he was breathing deeply and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks like it hadn't in her dream. Her dream. Bella's eyes widened as she gasped again, opening her mouth to speak only to stop when Edward stood. He went to the door and opened it, the dim light from downstairs casting him in a strange shadow.

"I think that we should talk," he said finally, not bothering to face her. "After you've had a shower."


	5. Chapter 5

Pillow Talk

They were lying on their bed, though in the technical sense it was just her bed. She was facing his broad chest, his arms encircled around her. She gripped at his neck more tightly with each intake of breath and nuzzled into his chest. He merely cradled her, allowing her to do whatever she needed to do to him. Her breathing became sharper and he closed his eyes as he kissed the top of her soft hair, rocking her comparatively petit frame back and forth. The bed creaked with each movement in an anomalous lullaby and pretty soon she was calm again. He sighed, his breathing warm against her chilled skin, and traced kisses down her hair, past her temple and too her cheek, where tears would have laid were such acts possible. She breathed calmly against his ear and he smiled, his lips meeting hers in a tender kiss.

"Thank you," she whispered being the first one to pull away.

"It's what I do," he answered with a grin, placing his large hand gently upon her cheek. She gave the faintest, and at the same time the largest, of her smiles and pulled his hand in front of her face to examine it.

"Your nails are dirty. You should wash them."

"Yes, ma'am."

She looked at them for a moment more and then kissed his fingertips, bringing them to rest against her chest. He smiled then and gently tapped his fingertips against her chest rhythmically in a makeshift heartbeat. Her eyes met his and they didn't leave each other's until his fingers had slowed, and the beating heart had died once more. Then she looked away, turning her back to him but keeping herself firmly locked in his arms. He looped one around her chest and one around her waist, pinning her to him just as she liked and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"That's good, good. You know, I've been thinking a lot about what we talked about a few months ago…" She tensed in his arms and he closed his eyes sadly, nodding against her cheek. "I think it would be a learning experience if nothing else. And it was your idea. I just…I just want to know that you'll be okay if I go."

She was silent for a few minutes, her eyes opened and staring at the far wall. "Of course you should go. It's unfair of me to pin you to my demands for eternity. You didn't ask for this." Her words were just above a whisper and she closed her eyes as he sighed again before speaking.

"You know how much I love you, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"I don't want to do anything that's going to hurt you or the family."

"It doesn't matter if it hurts us. You should be able to do what you want to do. You should be able to see the world on your own terms, meet your own friends…satisfy all of your needs."

"You know I couldn't do that. I couldn't do anything if I knew it inconvenienced you in some way. That's love."

"Or stupidity."

He chuckled, giving a gentle bite to her shoulder and she made a sound to tell him she enjoyed it. He then kissed her shoulder and trailed his lips up her neck before working their magic on her earlobe. She pressed against him, his hands moving up and down her long torso. She pushed against him hard and he moved back, allowing her onto her back and she was able to grab his head and force his mouth towards hers. They kissed quickly, passionately and on instinct alone he found himself on top of her. He rested his weight on his hands first, then gently eased himself down to where he was resting on top of her.

She felt the weight of his body and her eyes shot open. And the night around her was cold and snow was melting against her warmed skin. There were sounds everywhere and feelings she didn't like and a horrid drunken laughter. She tore away from his mouth and tried to push him off. But he was already gone. He'd sensed it the moment he'd gone too far. He was sitting up on the bed now, his hands gripping at the mattress. She found that she couldn't meet his eyes so she kept her head down as she sat up next to him.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, realizing that she'd lost count for how many times they'd had this conversation.

"Don't be sorry," he replied in a tone that told her that he was serious. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling it as it rose and fell with his breaths.

"You should go. You should go with Tanya."

"Yeah, I know," he said as he turned to face her. He placed his hand under her chin and lifted it so that their eyes met.

"Are you sure that you're okay with me leaving?"

"More than sure. You deserve the best. And that's just something I can't give, nor deserve."

He opened his mouth to retaliate and she shook her head, silencing him. "I just have one request, if you don't mind."

"Anything."

"Wait until after Bella's wedding. The days leading up to it and the wedding day itself should be about her, not where you went."

"You're always thinking about others," he said with a smirk. Then he leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. She closed her eyes at his touch and he sighed as he pulled away.

"But you're right. It's Bella and Edward's time now. And besides, we've got eternity, right?"

She forced a half smile, ignoring the aching in her chest as she nodded. Somewhere off in the distance, she thought she heard someone whisper her name. But she could only be imagining it.


	6. Chapter 6

Alice

Alice hummed a familiar tune in her head, grabbing for her calculus book and flipping to a random page. Still humming, she opened to a page bookmarked with notebook paper and began to work the problems as fast as she could. It was a good distraction and the humming muffled the sounds coming from upstairs. Alice distinctly remembered telling Bella that sleeping over tonight was not the best of ideas. For she had seen the vision. She had seen Bella writhing in the sheets and she most definitely heard the name that she whispered into the night. Alice closed her eyes, her humming becoming louder as the voices upstairs rose. Bella was crying, a sound that she hated to hear, and she got up to head outside.

The air was cool and the wind was blowing more forcefully than normal. Accompanied with the walls of the house it all provided a perfect barrier from the ongoing fight in Edward's room. Alice shook her head, watching the spindly branches dance with the wind. She should have been more forceful in her warning. She should have somehow conveyed to Bella what was going to happen, what she was going to dream. Alice then shook her head again for a different reason. Bella was also a big girl. She didn't need protecting all of the time. She had to learn to handle her own. And lord knew Edward wasn't going to allow her to do that so long as he could help it. She smiled softly, rolling her eyes at wonderfully emotional brother. You couldn't help but love him, but you'd also love to throttle him. A wonderful relationship indeed. Alice wouldn't have it any other way.

But, this was turning into quite a mess. The whole family seemed to be crumbling around her feet and Alice was the only one that could see. Well…see before anyone else, that was. Once again her gift toyed with her conscience, swaying it back and forth and testing its limits. Did she try to affect the outcome of her visions, should she tell people of them? Did she have a right to attempt the role of god? A conceited notion that was, and she smiled at herself. The sounds of doors shutting and a car driving off cued the pixie that she was expected, and she turned around and headed back inside and up the stairs.

The crying was loud, but muffled from what was most likely a pillow and Alice glanced at her eyes in a hallway mirror before she reached the door. They were dark, but nothing to worry about and she inhaled deeply as she opened the door into the dark room. As expected, Bella was lying on her bed on her stomach, her face firmly buried into her pillow. When the light of the hallway hit her shining red cheeks, Bella looked up, and Alice saw her face fall as she realized that Edward had not returned. However, seeing Alice did seem to bring a new, sort of hopeful look to her eyes and Alice flashed her a genuine smile as she crawled on the bed and sat next to her. Bella lunged into her sister's waiting arms, falling apart all over again.

Alice laughed softly at the human's impulse but also held her tightly, kissing the top of Bella's freshly washed and still wet hair. When it seemed that Bella's heart rate had slowed down and her breathing had evened (save for a few lung spasms) Alice gave her two short pats on the back and looked down over her. "So, what's the news, Swan?" she whispered, looking into Bella's reddened eyes. Those eyes then rolled and Bella sat up a bit, wiping her nose.

"Alice…did you see this?"

"I saw what caused the argument."

"The whole house probably knows by now!" Bella shouted, burying her head into Alice's shoulder. Alice caught the distinct scent of Bella's blushing cheeks and she stopped breathing, hoping that it would go away after a few moments. One couldn't be too careful, after all. When she dared a breath, all seemed fine and she shook her head.

"Bella, I saw it because it was in a vision. Edward heard it because he was in the room. And if my vision serves me well, which they most often do, you said it too quietly for anyone else to hear, or care about if they heard it."

"Well…that's something, I suppose. Did you hear the argument just now?"

"No, I felt that would be presumptuous of me. I did calculus instead. Your calculus, as a matter of fact. What did he say?"

Bella sniffed again, sitting up to where her back was resting against the headboard. She looked straight ahead and Alice saw her cheeks growing a darker shade of red that wasn't associated with her tears. "Long story short: He wanted to know why I dreamed of…that. When I told him I didn't know, that I had no control over my dreams, he got angry. He said that there must have been some reason as to why I was dreaming of her." Bella paused and dared a glance at Alice before turning to look at the bed sheets once more. "Because…I guess I whispered her name aloud or something." Alice nodded with a soft, understanding smile and Bella found the courage in that to continue.

"And I told him that dreams should never be taken literally. And when I said that he got sad and said that he must not have been satisfying me. I tried to tell him otherwise but that was when he said he needed time alone and left. Alice, what if he doesn't come back?"

The pixie looked over at her friend and saw her eyes shining with fresh tears. Alice placed both of her hands on Bella's cheeks to cool them and kissed the top of her forehead. "You and I both know that Edward can't spend more than eight hours away from you. I think he'll be coming back." Bella smiled at that and nuzzled back into Alice's shoulder. Alice allowed her to lay there for a few minutes before finally speaking again.

"So, now that there's no pressure, do you know why you dreamt of that?" Alice felt Bella's heartbeat quickening and turned her head to meet the human's eyes. Fear was all that the vampire could see in them and she put on her most neutral face, knowing that Bella wouldn't last too long before telling her. And, like always, Alice was right. Bella closed her eyes and made a face, but also opened her mouth to speak.

"I've just been…feeling…drawn, or something, to Rosalie." Bella's eyes then widened and her next words came out in a whisper. "She's not here, is she?"

"No, I believe she and Emmett went out with Carlisle and Esme to hunt."

"And Jasper?"

"Is very good at minding his own business, unlike his much shorter companion." Bella smiled and Alice couldn't help but feel a bit relieved at that.

"Oh, good. Well, I've just…I don't know. I like spending time with her, even though she scares the crap out of me sometimes. There's something fascinating about her. And I don't think it's…romantic or anything," to this Bella blushed again, "but I liked what happened in the dream."

"I think it's safe to say that most people like what happens in those kinds of dreams, Bella."

"You know what I mean, Alice. This is serious. I love Edward but he is seriously mad at me and himself. And I just don't know what to do. And, like I said, dreams are often metaphorical. They could often not be about sex at all."

"Really?"

Bella looked up at her sister, slightly shocked that she knew something that a Cullen didn't. Under different circumstances she would have gloated a little. But Alice's chipper face was the only thing keeping her from breaking down for the moment and she thought it best not to press her luck…even if this was the most patient vampire ever created. "Yeah, they're often metaphorical, dreams. Like, if you dream about falling it means that there are some insecurities that need to be addressed and that you consider yourself a failure at something. You…don't know about dreams?"

"Oh, that's fascinating," Alice said with genuine interest. "And no, it's been so long since I would have had a dream, I can't imagine how they are. I have to believe that they're different from my visions because dreams are wrought from your own mind. It would be so wonderful to have one, it seems. I don't know if the others, remembering their pasts, can remember dreams. I'll have to ask them sometime. What do they say about this particular kind of dream?" Alice made some sort of hand motion that Bella didn't understand. Alice smiled and made the hand motion again. "It's sign language. It means what you probably think it means." Bella blushed again and Alice fought the urge to smile. She was being entirely to mean right now, despite how adorable Bella looked when she overreacted.

"I'm afraid I don't know that one off of the top of my head," Bella answered finally, looking rather crestfallen. Alice looked around for a moment and found Edward's laptop nestled neatly under a couple of pages of sight reading sheets. She opened it up and set it between herself and Bella, typing in the obvious, but rather long, password. When Bella looked at her in question, Alice shrugged and pulled up the internet.

"Isabella Maria Swan is the password. I try to refrain from spreading that, however, as buckets of cheese might fall on us at any moment." Bella laughed and Alice searched for what she desired. "Okay, so to be heterosexual," her eyes darted to Bella's then, and resulted in Bella making a squeaking noise, "and have a dream with the same sex is an expression of greater self acceptance." Alice hummed for a moment, thinking it over and Bella watched her rather impatiently, waiting for her advice. Finally, Alice made a 'tsk' noise and shook her head. "I just don't like that. I don't think it fits. At least, it's not the center of what your mind's trying to tell you. Of course, it's your dream." Bella shrugged and Alice hid her annoyance as she searched some more. Before she could find her next clue, Bella spoke.

"Why would Edward take the blame of the dream and place it on himself? He said that I didn't satisfy him. Why is it suddenly his fault? He should be mad at me, Alice!" Frustration was evident in Bella's voice and Alice smiled with relief. At least there was one flaw in their perfect romance. Alice was just as much of a hopeless romantic as the next sap, but even she and Jasper disagreed on some matters. It was nice to know that Bella did too. Who knew what Edward thought.

"Edward, I guess, doesn't seem to possess the ability understand that you are flawed. I mean, to him, you're Bella!" She raised her arms up in praise. "His muse, his song, his love, his everything. You…have a flaw? Perish the thought. So, when he finds out that you do, he suppresses the reality. He switches the blame, brings it upon himself to keep you in your pristinely state. Of course, he may also be unsatisfying you." Alice looked to her friend, hoping she would accept that lead-up, but Bella stared right back into hers, telling the pixie of her defiance to answer. So Alice merely sighed and pulled up what she'd found.

"Okay, here, it says that to have sex with someone not your significant other shows your reservations about embarking on a new relationship. Oh, and look here it says most people dream of this before an upcoming wedding. It must be completely normal." Alice looked over at Bella, who smiled. However, the pixie, ever observant, saw right through it.

"I thought you'd be happier about this, Bella. You seemed so worried before."

Bella took her bottom lip in her teeth and chewed on it so forcefully that for a moment Alice thought she would draw blood. Luckily, before it got to that, Bella let her lip go and ran a hand through her soaking hair. Alice said nothing, hoping it would encourage Bella to continue and after a moment of contemplative silence, Bella spoke. Her voice was just barely above a whisper and Alice could see the tears forming in her eyes again.

"Alice…what if, like, what if maybe, or what would you say if I, sort of…liked the idea or something." The last five words came out rapidly before Bella found a pillow and shoved her mortified face into it. Alice couldn't help but be a bit thankful at that, as the girl was probably blushing beyond her wildest and darkest fantasies. She might be able to smell it just the same, but it did help to not see the blood just beneath that all too weak skin.

"But I love Edward!" The voice was muffled from the pillow, but still very clear. "I really do, Alice! I can't fathom the idea of him not being here yet when Rosalie is here in person or in my thoughts he, like everything else, is at the back of mind. I mean, what would you say to that? That I'm a terrible, selfish person?"

Alice took shallow breaths, gauging Bella's 'calm down' factor on the potency of blood in the air. When it was tolerable, Alice grabbed the pillow and gently lowered it from her friend's face. Bella allowed it to fall but wouldn't meet Alice's eyes. The pixie tried to read her, but she seemed to have made herself catatonic. What the point of that was, she'd probably never know. In an attempt to wake her up, Alice gently grabbed for Bella's chin, lifting her face so that their eyes could meet.

"I would say that nothing has ever been easy with you, Bella Swan. And you should take that as a compliment, like I intended." Bella nodded and reached out to hug Alice again. It was a less desperate hug this time. It was Bella's way of thanking her and Alice could hardly complain. "You're also not terrible and you're also not selfish. This very breakdown you're having tells us that," the pixie murmured into Bella's heated ear. She felt Bella's cheek sliding against her own as she nodded at her words.

When Bella pulled away, she was looking down again. It didn't take a genius or an overly observant pixie to realize that she was about to say something else that was rather uncomfortable for her. "I…what should I do about it?"

Alice sighed, putting an arm around Bella's shoulders. She looked straight ahead, searching for a vision that would tell her which way to steer the conversation, but none came at the moment. So she resorted to speaking with what she felt was right. "First off, I'd say you need to decide what exactly it is that's going on between you and Rosalie. Something tells me that you know the answer to that already." Bella blushed again and Alice nodded.

"But, then you've got to decide if these newfound feelings are worth sacrificing what's going to be your marriage. Also, how does Rosalie fit into all of this? Something tells me that, as smart as the girl is, she's probably a little clueless to your intentions. Are the feelings requited? And of course, there's Emmett…." Alice drifted, her brow furrowing as she remembered her visions and the conversations between Rosalie and Emmett that she didn't mean to eavesdrop on, but ended up doing so anyway. Perhaps Emmett wouldn't be a factor much longer.

Bella, however, didn't seem to catch the pause and instead she reached out and clung to Alice again. Their eyes met and Bella shut hers tightly for a moment. "What do you think, Alice?"

Alice and shook her head, watching as the brunette's eyes filled with disappointment. "There are some things you have to figure out for yourself, Bella. But I will say this:" She paused, her eyes growing hard. Bella noticed this and sat up straight, eager to please and eager for any words of wisdom on the matter. "Be careful. There are a lot of hearts at stake, Bella, mine included. I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do and by all means pursue what makes you happy. But don't you forget that love, in all forms, is all about compromise. Remember that."

Bella nodded, then looked up again. "I know I have to figure this out myself, Alice, but do you see all of this ending happily?"

"I haven't seen anything. No one's made a decision. Though, in this case, I don't think I'm going to go searching for the spoiler, just in case it's a bad one."

"Will you…will you still be my friend, no matter what happens?"

"I'll always be your friend, Bella. I'll always love you. And most likely, so will everyone else. Just take it as it comes. You're smart. You're compassionate. This will all sort itself out, no doubt with some bumps along the way. But, I'm positive."

Bella laughed then. "When aren't you positive?"

"Good question."

"Well, I'm so glad you are," Bella said, wrapping her arms around her friend once more. Alice returned the hug and as she closed her eyes, a vision hit her. There were no words to this scene, so clearly the person that provoked this vision hadn't thought of what to say. But judging by the expressions of the two characters involved, it didn't look like it was going to turn out well. Alice thought for a moment before deciding that Bella didn't need to know about this upcoming chat. It would all unfold sooner or later.


	7. Chapter 7

No Matter

Rosalie had to admit that she did feel much better after hunting. Lately she'd been feeling like she was straining herself too far on her hunting breaks. Or perhaps it was because Bella had decided to invade their home all of the time nowadays, even spending the night. Either way, her mood was much calmer after the hunt and told Emmett so with a kiss as they walked back in the door. He smiled at her in a manner she wished he hadn't. For it forced her to pull away and request to be alone. Her wishes were always respected and she nodded to herself as she walked up the stairs, noting how no one followed her.

Why didn't Emmett have to look at her that way and ruin the moment all of the time? She didn't know what else she could do for him. The things he wanted were out of her hands: simple as that. Simple, maybe, but it didn't hurt her any less to think about what she was doing to him. No matter, in a month or so he would be gone, living his life as best as could be intended. And she would be alone. But no matter.

She reached the top of the stairs and headed to her room, well aware of the silence that emanated through Edward's door. Yes, the heartbeat of Bella was still there, and perhaps a lingering scent of Alice, but apart from that nothing seemed to be going on. Perhaps she was sleeping. The bags evident under her eyes recently suggested that she wasn't getting sufficient amounts of slumber anyway. Rosalie nodded knowingly to herself. It made sense given that Edward never gave her a moment alone. And perish the thought that she should sleep while in his presence. Rosalie looked to the door once more as she passed before dismissing those thoughts entirely and heading into her room, closing the door characteristically behind her.

She hadn't made it three steps when the door suddenly opened again. For the briefest of moments, Rosalie thought that she might have smelled Bella, and her heart sank with the idea of her coming in with another one of her clever shticks. She was not in the mood to contain herself in front of the human, no matter how interesting her company always turned out to be. However, as quickly as the thought had passed, a new scent filled her and she realized that Bella's scent was only that which hung on Edward's clothes. The clothes that he was now wearing as he turned to shut the door behind him. Rosalie turned with a clearly displeased expression on her face.

"Edward, to what do I owe this pleasure of you not knocking?"

He smiled that crooked smile at her and extended his hands. Automatically, she placed her hands in his and he leaned in to give her a kiss on both cheeks. Archaic as it was, Edward found that it often pleased Rosalie to greet each other this way. Probably because it reminded her of how she used to be greeted. He would have liked to have entered her mind and really understood why she liked it so much, but he was in no mood for a headache today. Rosalie's thoughts, when he could break them, were often filled with a confusing, sad anger that he didn't understand. Whenever a relative thought could be reached by him, it was often short and vague and of no importance to him anyway. But he really didn't need to use his talent now anyway.

"Forgive my intrusion, Rosalie, but I'd like to speak with you."

She grimaced at that, turning around to smooth her already perfect bed sheets. "Why is it that now everyone thinks they can come barging into my room whenever they wish?" she said through an exasperated sigh. Edward's brow rose at this and he went over to the other side of the bed and picked up a pillow to fluff absently.

"You mean that someone other than your annoying brother has been invading your privacy? I must know who I'm being upstaged by." He shot her a grin which was unsurprisingly returned with a glare and he entered her mind only to find that she had converted her thoughts to Hebrew, a language he had not yet mastered.

"I've no interest in starting a competition between the two of you. Then I'd never get a moment's peace. Not that those aren't hard to come by already." She flashed him a look that he understood, but it didn't faze him. Instead, he gave her another smile and came around to her side of the bed.

"Exactly why I wanted to speak with you," he began. "I've noticed that you've been feeling a little on edge lately and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help?"

"Like barging into my room?"

"Rosalie, do ever let anything go?"

She shot up from her smoothing then and turned to face him with her hands on her hips. Edward's face fell and he lowered his head, mumbling a weak but sincere apology. She didn't show any sign of accepting it, but strode past him to sit on her bed bench, offering the vanity stool to him. He sat on it and she didn't fail to notice the vain look he flashed himself in the mirror. She couldn't blame him, as Edward was an attractive man, but there was a part of her that found it wonderfully funny when he admired himself like that. He turned to face her and opened his mouth but she stopped him by raising her hand.

"Why don't you stop beating around the bush and just tell me what it is that you're after? It would save us a lot of temper tantrums."

"Fair enough. Bella has been acting…off, lately. And I know that you and she had worked on her truck together. Did anything seem off to you? Was she acting okay?"

"She mumbled, blushed and was overall awkward in my presence. Seemed fairly normal to me," Rosalie answered, leaning forward on the bed bench. She was well aware that Edward struggled with her thoughts and she couldn't deny that it made her feel powerful when she had to make him think about something, rather than just finding the answer within someone's mind. In fact, she often liked to witness Bella and Edward in a discussion simply so she could read the frustration on his face of not really knowing what his love was thinking. In fact now she was taking great pleasure in the way his brow was creasing.

"Please, Rosalie, would you give me a better answer? I feel like I'm doing something wrong and we both know that Bella won't tell me what it is. She never tells me anything."

"That's interesting. She's always quite open with me. And yet she's terrified of me. Maybe you should flash those pearly whites more often. Get that sweet blood running and she'll sing like a bird."

Edward growled and Rosalie shrugged at him. He could take this conversation or leave it. She couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. However, she had to admit that it surprised her that Edward found her closemouthed. Every time they were together they seemed to gush every innermost thought. No, it definitely didn't add up. Remembering who was in the room and taking extra care to translate her thoughts, Rosalie thought about their discussion in the garage. There was no way she would disclose all of what went on there. Because, quite frankly, it was embarrassing. She had lost her cool and in turn lost the little battle that she and Bella often had with each other. In fact, Rosalie realized now that she hadn't won a single one. That bothered her somewhat but she was pulled from her thoughts as Edward spoke again.

"Were you at home last night, Rosalie? I don't remember you leaving for the evening."

"Why yes, officer, Emmett and I were enjoying each other's company on this very bed." She gestured to it and imagined the blush that would be imprinted on his face were it possible. Edward looked from her to the bed then looked away. He was such a prude.

"Well, then, I was wondering if you heard Bella dreaming? You know she often talks in her sleep and I was wondering if you heard anything she said."

"I can't say I did. I was a bit preoccupied." In spite of herself and the other in the room, Rosalie's eyes saddened and she looked down at the carpet where Bella's hair probably still lay. Edward picked up on this and he stood, coming over to sit next to her on the bed bench.

"Is there something wrong between you and Emmett?" he asked, gently placing his hand atop hers. In that instant Rosalie was brought from her daze and she practically leapt from her seat and glared down at him. Edward looked away, disappointed that he hadn't handled that with a bit more caveat.

"Are we discussing my personal life or yours?" she growled, her hands on her hips once more. Edward nodded, raising his hands in surrender at her words.

"My apologies, Rose. I just care about you and Emmett and your expression…well, worried me." Rosalie made no response to that and he sighed before asking his question again. "You're sure that you didn't hear Bella say anything? Because you two have been spending quite a bit of time together, it seems. And what she said was interesting. She said—

"Excuse me but I didn't ask to hear what she said," Rosalie interrupted. "If Bella said something while off in her dream land it is no concern of mine. It is also not for you to spread like gossip. If Bella wants to tell me what she dreamt of, she will. She can speak, you know, of her own will." Rosalie's eyebrows rose at her own words and she smiled at Edward, daring him to challenge her. For a moment it looked like he would but his face fell and he looked away.

"I'm well aware of what Bella can do…and what she wants to do." His eyes met hers and Rosalie didn't like what she was reading in them. Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable, though her outward appearance didn't show it. There was no reason that she could think of as to why she should be nervous, but she was. And she didn't like being nervous. It was something she hardly ever did without good reason. Edward's eyes flickered, like he'd somehow understood what she was thinking, even if she herself didn't and she huffed before making her way to the door and opening it.

"If there's a problem between you and Bella I suggest you sort it yourselves or find a counselor. This is of no importance to me," she said coldly, waiting for him to leave. Much to her surprise, Edward smiled at her. It wasn't the same crooked one that he always did and she didn't like it. He made his way toward the door and stopped before leaving, picking up her hand and kissing the top of it before placing his other hand over it and sandwiching her between his.

"That's very good to hear, Rosalie. Let's keep it that way." Before she could form a response, he winked and headed out. Rosalie glared at him as he walked, allowing her to read her mind of insults, if he wished. When he reached his room, where Bella was still currently located, he turned to look at her once more and she slammed the door.

Once safely inside of her room and alone, Rosalie sighed and leaned against the door. She definitely did not like that conversation. Whatever they were discussing, Edward seemed to get what he wanted from it and she didn't like giving that away so easily. A certain uneasy feeling filled her and her mind shot to Bella, the object of their conversation.

Bella had been dreaming, and it somehow concerned her. Rosalie didn't quite know how to feel about it. Certainly she thought she would have been angrier than she felt. And while she wasn't an expert on dreams, it had to be flattering for someone to dream of you, didn't it? Her mind flashed to the cold New York street and she shook her head. It certainly didn't have to be flattering, but perhaps this instance was. And what was this other feeling? This nervousness, if that's what it was. Rosalie gripped the doorknob in her palm, feeling the metal scream with the pressure she applied to it.

She was getting sick and tired of being manipulated. She was tired of being out of the loop. Rosalie Hale was not to be made a fool of. And here it was, happening all at once like she was the lead in a circus act. The thought angered her greatly and she felt the doorknob give beneath her strength.

As soon as she could get the chance, she would talk to Bella. And you could bet that she was going to get what she wanted from it. And then all of this would be no matter.


	8. Chapter 8

The Hunt

Good lord, it had been three whole days before Rosalie could even think of speaking to Bella. Were she and Edward really that inseparable? Apparently so. She rolled her golden eyes at herself as she roamed the woods surrounding their house. After a quick meal, she would finally confront the human and get the answers she so desired. Chances are that she would get angry and if that was the case, she didn't want Bella's blushing cheeks to set her off. Yes, hunting made her just a bit more feral than normal, as with any other vampire, but she could handle it.

Though Edward hadn't made any motion to speak to her since their encounter in the bedroom she still noticed his looks. His snide little glances and the condescending manner in which his brow creased when his eyes fell on her. How dare he? As far as she knew, she had done nothing wrong. And if he wasn't going to elaborate his facial expressions, he might as well keep them to himself. The scent of a beast filled her nostrils and she growled, edging closer towards the clearing in the trees.

Because, honestly, what right did he have to criticize her for anything? She was the one that was rejected by him, she was the one that was forced to feel the real isolation of being unloved and for the longest time, she didn't get to pick her future mate. She didn't have the option to pluck whomever she wanted from the streets of Rochester or wherever. She was lucky enough to have found Emmett, the reincarnate of Vera's little Henry. And while that in itself was beautiful…

The scent was stronger now and she felt her chest rumble with anticipation. Running water could be heard. The stream. Something was drinking there. It was rather small in comparison as she felt the heartbeat rumble through her mind. But it would do, whatever it was. And then she would have her meal and be able to handle all of Bella's leaking. She tended to do that a lot…leak from areas. Of course, that was what humans did but still, how did the girl stay hydrated? She also hoped that the girl had slept since she last saw her. The bags under her eyes were ill-fitting to her complexion.

It was a very nice complexion. Pale but smooth and she appeared to have good skin overall. The human didn't tan and Rosalie found that she liked that better. Occasionally, she wished that she would do more with her hair than allow it to hang limply around her cheeks but there was no discussion with her on the matter. Alice tried, of course. And if Alice can't do it, well then…

Well then that would leave Edward to try. And Rosalie would have absolutely none of that. She growled again, the tree resting on her palm giving way to her nails. And she wouldn't allow Edward, then she herself would have to do it. She would have to convince Bella to do something to her hair, get some sleep and give her the answers she craved. By force, if necessary.

The animal found its way into her clearing. A wolf.

How perfect.

0-0-0-0-0

Bella would have to remember to thank Alice for doing parts of her calculus homework. Without her help there was no way she was going to finish tomorrow in time for school. Of course, Bella also wished that Alice was here now, helping her with this problem. Calculus was never her forte, though she was adequate at it. And while the teacher could be a bore she was grateful for this assignment. Edward hadn't really spoken her dream since he left a few days ago. And while he had returned and cuddled with her and still allowed her to sleep over (thankfully with no more dreams from Bella) she could tell that he was distant. He was still thinking about it. But when she tried to bring it up, the point was moot to him. He wouldn't discuss it until he was ready. The problem was that he might never be ready. And that worried Bella to no end.

The back door opened behind her and Bella turned around, hopeful that Alice had indeed made a return. However, her cheeks flushed when she realized it was Rosalie. Luckily for Bella, Rosalie's eyes were practically glowing they were so gold, and there wasn't much to worry about in that sense. Of course, in all other senses revolving around Rosalie, there was a lot to worry about. She hadn't spoken to the blonde since their encounter in the garage and didn't know what all she knew. Did she know of Bella's dream, of Bella's feelings? Was she aware of Edward's unease towards her? If she was, she didn't look it. Although she definitely looked pissed.

"May I speak with you?" Rosalie asked finally, gesturing to the stairs. Bella nodded and obediently stood. Rosalie allowed her to go up the stairs first and she paused when she reached the last step.

"Where are we going?" Bella managed to squeak, eyeing both Edward's and Rosalie's bedroom. Rosalie extended her long arm and Bella watched as it ran past her face and pointed towards Edward's room. Bella nodded again and stepped inside, holding the door open for the blonde as she passed. A strange scent was upon her as she passed. It smelled like the forest…and death. Bella gulped and shut the door, standing to face Rosalie who was walking around the bed, looking at it inquisitively. The sheets had just been washed. She could smell their freshness. But they had been washed less than a week ago. Rosalie's eyes shot to Bella's, who could hold her stare for only a moment before looking away.

"Edward paid me a visit the other day, Bella. He inquired about you…" Rosalie let her words drift as her eyes continued to roam the human's face. Panic appeared rather quickly and obviously and it piqued Rosalie's interest. However, she meant what she said to Edward. Bella would tell her if and when she wanted to. And Rosalie was fine with that…for now. "I wouldn't let him say what caused his questioning because it pertained to you and a dream you had. I figured that was your business alone."

"Thank you," Bella said quickly and Rosalie could detect the relief in her voice. That piqued her interest even more.

"You're welcome. But he was very nosy and it got me interested." Her eyes hardened on Bella and she could hear the heart starting to race. It only fueled her anger and her next words were sharp and cold. "Just why, exactly, are the two of you discussing me in the first place?"

"W-we weren't, Rosalie. It's just that…"

"It's just what?"

"I…I had a really personal dream, okay? It really bothered Edward. But it was nothing, I swear."

"I don't care about your silly little dream idiosyncrasies. Unless the dream is somehow pertinent to me I…don't…care." The blonde vampire was fuming now. Bella could hear her long and even breaths and her expression was one to invoke terror. And rest assured, it did. She straightened her posture then, waiting for Bella to continue. When a few moments of silence had passed she finally understood.

"I was in your dream," she said slowly, trying to calm herself. Bella nodded and Rosalie felt a strange sort of pressure enter her diaphragm. She didn't know what that meant, to be in someone's dreams. Not having a single one over seventy years, one sort of loses interest in those things. But Rosalie was certainly interested now. She took a step forward, noting that her nervousness, while hidden, seemed to equate Bella's right now. "Would you mind describing your dream?"

Bella's eyes went wide and she shook her head. "Yes, I would mind very much."

"Why?"

"Because…it's just really personal. And too many people know about it as it is."

"Who else besides you and Edward?"

"Alice,"

"And yet the person in this dream is not allowed to know?"

"It's not that you're not allowed, Rosalie, it's just that it would be really, really awkward and you would get the wrong impression and—

"I don't appreciate you making assumptions. You most certainly do not know what I will do."

Bella blushed again, looking to her hands and Rosalie found that it made her angrier. Why didn't she fight back like she had done so many times before? Why didn't she keep pushing her, pushing her to breaking point? In spite of herself, Rosalie let out a small growl. Bella jumped at that then met Rosalie's eyes. Rosalie glared down at her, stepping towards her so that she was just inches away. Though only a little bit taller than Bella, it seemed as if the blonde towered over her and Bella recoiled, trying and failing to keep eye contact.

"But you don't know what I will do, unless you tell me," Rosalie whispered, bending her knees to bring Bella to direct eye level. Bella's eyes were shining with tears and her bottom lip quivered in what Rosalie could only assume was trying to hold back her tears. Or perhaps she was scared. Either way, she was close to breaking down and Rosalie couldn't give up now. Deciding to go for a calmer tactic, Rosalie softened her face and reached out for Bella's hair, gently brushing it behind her shoulders. Bella took a deep breath and Rosalie nodded.

"Do you promise you won't get mad?"

Rosalie quirked her brow and Bella chomped on her lip before sighing and asking a different question.

"Will you try not to kill me?"

"Yes, I'll try not to kill you."

Bella nodded then took a step back from Rosalie, who did not follow her. "I…I had a dream about you. And it was you…and it was me…and we were…doing things." She paused, her cheeks bursting with color. Rosalie forced herself to remain expressionless. She didn't want to get angry over a misunderstanding. Bella's breathing was growing sporadic and she refused to meet the blonde's eyes. When Rosalie made no response, Bella closed her eyes tightly and said the next sentence very quickly. "You know like kissing…on the bed, and then what progresses from there maybe."

She waited a moment, then opened one eye. Rosalie looked…well, Bella couldn't tell how Rosalie looked. She couldn't read her expression at all, though her expression had changed. Rosalie was taking deep, even breaths, registering the words that had just entered her mind. She and Bella…kissing, touching, caressing…progressing as Bella put it. It wasn't all that much of a surprise but still it was…what exactly was it? She and Bella, progressing to where Rosalie had never dared. Was she comfortable with it in the dream? Were there any protests? How did these dreams work? Rosalie didn't know and that caused her to glare. Bella saw it and swallowed quickly, putting her hands up.

"But, but I don't want that, Rosalie! I swear, I would never ever want to do that. I mean, I can't control my dreams, you know? Crazy, stupid stuff happens in them and I don't know why."

Rosalie straightened her long legs and held up a hand to silence the human before she closed her eyes. Crazy? Stupid? So that was what she thought of the dream, did she? No wonder Edward was so unnerved. The prude. Bella's newest lines raced through her calculating mind and Rosalie found herself growing angry again.

Why wouldn't she want that? Who wouldn't want that, male or female? She was the most beautiful person in the world. Not woman, no, person. She was the most beautiful person in the world and this…this human didn't want her? Like boyfriend like girlfriend. Rosalie didn't realize she'd been growling until she heard the sounds of Bella's heartbeat racing. Her eyes opened and seized their grasp on the human, who had now backed against the door. Rosalie allowed herself to smile and flew forward, casting her arms on either side of Bella as she pressed her against the door.

"So, you don't want me either, do you? Rosalie Lillian Hale is the most beautiful person in the world and yet there are two people right here in this very household that would rather die than have her? Why is that, Miss Swan? What is it about you and your fiancé that you both find me so unappealing, hmm? Even a fantasy of kissing me, touching me, making me writhe beneath you causes you to wretch. As if you were deserving of me anyway, you pathetic human." She was shaking with rage now and she watched as Bella shook for an entirely different reason. Yes, Rosalie was such a sight for sore eyes. God forbid anyone want her, let alone love her.

To add further insult to Bella, she pressed herself against the human, listening as Bella gave a sharp intake of breath. "You hate this, don't you? Hate feeling me so close you," she hissed into Bella's ear. Bella made no response but her ear brushed against Rosalie's lips as she struggled against the pressure of the vampire's body. It reminded the vampire of Royce, cowardly in his little room, begging for mercy. Oh, how he had screamed. And for a brief moment, she wanted Bella to scream. She wanted to hear just how sorry this human was for hurting her.

And Bella was so close…and she smelled so good. The growl returned as Rosalie closed her eyes and placed her nose to Bella's neck. Her heart was racing faster than she thought possible and that made the blood all the more heated. The blood that remained so close, neatly wrapped in the skin that was as fragile as tissue.

It was then that Bella made a sound. It was a squeak of sorts. A whimper. Then she opened her frightened eyes. And Rosalie saw the tears in them, and she noticed really just how much Bella was shaking. What just happened? Slowly, Rosalie withdrew her pinning arms away from the door. Bella winced as they passed by her and breathed a sigh of relief as Rosalie stepped back. Rosalie's eyes found themselves to be very comfortable staring at the floor for a moment and when Bella's heart rate eased she heard the door open and finally looked up.

Bella was staring right at her, still shaking a bit and trying to hold in her sobs. The doorknob was gripped tightly in her hand as she held the door open for the vampire. Rosalie opened her mouth to speak, but found that she had nothing to say. At least not right now anyway. It was best to let the both of them cool down. She nodded towards the opening and headed towards it. When she passed by Bella, she noticed that the girl had winced again at her proximity. Rosalie stopped and looked down at her. She raised her hand just a bit, then hitched. No, don't scare her again. The last thing Rosalie wanted to see was Bella wince in her presence yet again. Bella averted her eyes and Rosalie stepped out, hearing the door shut behind her. She passed a mirror on the way out the door and glanced at her eyes.

Black.


	9. Chapter 9

Why?

Bella could still be heard through the wall of the house, crying softly into a pillow. Rosalie knew, because she hadn't left her room since their encounter and throughout the night she had listened to Bella's personal soundtrack for her. The human was certainly good at torture, despite all of her faults. Faults that Rosalie knew all too well. The blonde sighed, releasing the pillow that was pressed to both sides of her ears.

Thankfully, in all of her torture, she had not been bothered by Bella's other and worse half. She remembered listening intently as he raced up the stairs from his hunt and bolted into the room, wondering just what it was that he'd done wrong. Did Edward's thoughts ever deter from himself? It didn't seem that way. But then Bella had done something that the blonde didn't really expect. She shooed Edward away. Rosalie knew this because at that point her ear had practically been glued to the wall, not that she needed it, but clarity was always a good thing. Bella had not responded to his questions but instead told him that it was 'a girl thing' and forced him out of the room.

A girl thing indeed.

Surely he would have smelled her in the room, Rosalie thought to herself. His sense of smell was impeccable, just like hers and just like the rest of her family's. Perhaps he just ignored it, or played it up to other factors, such as Bella possibly sitting on the same area of the couch as Rosalie had previously. Of course, being Edward, he probably ignored it. Rosalie smiled to herself for a moment, feeling as if she had won something. Then the sob came through the wooden walls again and she let out quite a groan, humming to herself as she stood to pace around the room. The padding of her feet on the floor mixed with humming helped, but it couldn't drown out Bella's sadness. A sadness that Rosalie had caused. Her eyes darted to the reflection in the vanity and she scolded it briefly before footsteps were heard in the hall. They were too light to be Bella's or anyone else's but—

"Alice," Rosalie greeted with a sigh before the door was even pushed open. Upon hearing her name, Alice smiled as she entered the room. Alice never knocked and she was the only one, save for Bella, that Rosalie didn't scold when she didn't. Rosalie waved her politely into the room and then turned her back to her sister, sitting at the vanity. Alice came up behind her and wrapped her arms across Rosalie's chest, resting her tiny head on her shoulder.

"I'm prettier," she mumbled into the blonde's ear, her grin growing wider as she saw Rosalie break out into a smile. The smile soon faded however as Rosalie tore from Alice's grasp and paced away from her, crossing her arms as she stared at the wall.

"Don't make me smile, Alice. It makes me feel badly."

"Rose, you always feel bad."

"Badly,"

"I did that just because I knew you'd correct it."

"I know that you did."

Alice giggled, the sound ringing through Rosalie's ears. She wondered if her laugh rang. It probably didn't, but she wouldn't know. She hadn't laughed, really laughed, since she was changed. She remembered her laugh as a human very vividly and even then it seemed hollow. Did she have a laugh? Such a strange question to pose, and yet the blonde couldn't define the answer with 100 percent honesty. Alice sighed, bringing Rosalie's attention back into the room. She turned to face her shorter sister and waited for her start the conversation. Alice looked at her lovingly, her feet locked at the ankles and dangling back and forth.

"You were very mean, Rose."

Rosalie glared at her. She had an inkling that Alice's visit would lead to this but a part of her had hoped otherwise. That was what she got for hoping. "I was expecting Edward to come to her rescue, not you."

"Edward doesn't know that you're the cause of his fiancée's tears. You should be thankful for that." She eyed her sister warningly and Rosalie's glare intensified.

"I can handle my own against him."

"Yes, but is it really worth it? Edward is fantastic at holding grudges, like another sibling of mine…"

"Are you just here to point out my flaws?" Rosalie snapped, fuming just like she'd done so with Bella. "Because I don't remember asking for it." She watched as Alice's eyes flicked away from hers for just a brief moment before coming back. Alice sighed sadly and Rosalie felt her hardened glare relaxing into sorry. She licked her lips and looked away, shrugging. It was as close as she could get to apologizing. Thankfully, Alice knew it, for she stood up and headed over to Rosalie, standing right in her line of vision.

"That temper of yours is exactly why I'm here. You'd think after years and years of dealing with life, you'd grow some patience." She smiled and brushed Rosalie's hair over to one shoulder, stroking it with her hand. "Though, it is one of the more endearing things about you, your persistence."

"You mean my ignorance."

"Determination,"

"Insensibility,"

" Proud,"

"Arbitrate,"

"Nescient,"

"Ascertainable,"

Rosalie paused for a moment, only a moment before she found another word, but Alice beat her with a smirk, pointing her tiny finger at her. "I win,"

"You cheated."

"It's not my fault." Rosalie couldn't argue that point and she huffed rather loudly before going to sit on the bed. Today just wasn't her day. She couldn't even win a word war with Alice. As expected, Alice sat down next to her and they were quiet for a while. After a few minutes there was sobbing again from down the hall and both girls sighed at the same time. Alice attempted to meet Rosalie's eyes but she looked away, staring straight at the lamp on her bedside table. "You really hurt her," Alice whispered, resting her chin on Rosalie's shoulder.

"I'm aware of that."

"Are you? Because as far as I know, you've yet to apologize."

"Why do I always have to be the one to apologize?" Rosalie whispered fiercely, not daring to raise her voice any more than that. She stood from the bed and faced Alice, who remained sitting, and flung her arm towards her door. "Why does it always have to be Rosalie? Rosalie's always wrong; Rosalie's always the bitch; Rosalie's always the one who's misunderstanding things." She listed them off on angry fingers as Alice watched. When she finished she looked to Alice with hopeful eyes. "Why me?" she asked, the lead filled question falling with relief from her shoulders. Alice blinked very slowly, then shook her head.

"I don't know, Rosalie."

Rosalie considered glaring at that. She also considered crying, but both seemed a bit out of the question. So she merely looked away, muttering, "I win."

Alice smiled, sighing as she did so. "That you do."

"So why doesn't anyone come to Rosalie's aid when it's needed? Why doesn't anyone ever stick up for me?"

"First of all, you wouldn't accept it if you knew about it. Because you can take care of yourself. You've told me that many times. Second of all, people do come to your aid. I did just the other day."

"You did?" Rosalie whispered, looking over to her sister who nodded.

"You don't need to know the details, but yes, I did. And I was proud to do so. Now, tell me why Bella is also in the wrong here. Why should she apologize?"

Rosalie licked her lips again, becoming hesitant for the first time. She looked away again. "Shouldn't you know why? I assume you heard what she said."

"Yes, I did. But do you really think Bella meant all that she said? You're very intimidating. She could have been lying through her teeth. Only she knows for sure."

"And you."

"Perhaps. Even then it's not my place to tell. My point is that you let your temper get in the way of what could have been a very interesting conversation. And I'm here on behalf of Bella because she's too scared of you to come in and make things right. I can't say that I blame her." She shot Rosalie a stern look and Rosalie looked to the floor for the first time.

"I didn't hurt her. I wouldn't have hurt her."

"I know that you wouldn't have. But you did hurt her emotionally. I'm not saying that you have to apologize if you don't want to. But the both of you should clarify things. We can't have the bridesmaid angry with the bride and vice versa."

Rosalie, who had still been looking away, slowly lifted her head and met Alice's eyes. Alice noted the confused crease in her brow and nodded. "Yes, Bella came to me the other day and asked me to ask you if you wanted the position. Sorry to say that maid of honor still belongs to me, but she wants you in the wedding." Rosalie's eyes darted back and forth before they looked away again. She lowered her head and Alice stood, heading over to her and standing on her toes in an attempt to even the difference.

"She cares about you a lot more than you know. It'd be nice to at least make peace with her. But it's up to you. It always is, Rose." Rosalie made no response and Alice wrapped her arms around her sister. "I do love you," she whispered as she pulled away. Rosalie nodded because she knew that it was true but still couldn't meet her eyes. Alice placed her hand on her cheek for a moment and then headed out the door. Rosalie listened to the door close behind her and listened as Alice travelled down the stairs rather than heading to Bella's room. Bella could still be heard sobbing and Rosalie closed her eyes, bringing her arms to wrap them around her torso.

She had a lot of thinking to do.


	10. Chapter 10

Fragile

Finally, things seemed to be coming together for Bella. Edward had pulled her from class this past Friday and had taken her out to the woods. After apologizing immensely for his behavior he vowed to her that everything was fine now, and she had no reason to worry. All was right with the world. Bella agreed with him simply because she didn't want to argue. Granted, she loved the fact that Edward had dropped her dream and variants of, but that was only half of the problem. Rather, one fourth of the problem, if she was going to be precise.

The other three fourths of the problem still hadn't spoken to her. Bella couldn't decide if she liked that or not. She closed her eyes as she lay on the bed in Edward's room. The sheets, freshly washed of course, smelled rather wonderful and she grabbed a pillow and placed it over her head, inhaling deeply. It smelled like really expensive detergent and Bella inhaled over and over again, the scent calming her nerves. No matter how many times Bella tried to put the blame on herself, she found that she couldn't. Yes, she did lie to Rosalie. That was her one and only concession. She shouldn't have lied to Rosalie, though if she'd been given another chance she wasn't sure if she would tell the truth anyway.

But Rosalie had done far worse. Rosalie had attacked her, made Bella afraid of her. And Bella hated that. The last thing that she wanted in the world was to be afraid of Rosalie. But she had been so angry, so forceful. Bella couldn't deny that when she'd pressed their bodies together out of anger that she had felt some form of arousal but that would come from anyone, wouldn't it? It was human nature to get aroused in an act like that. If it was vampire nature, she still wasn't sure.

Rosalie needed to apologize.

Bella needed to apologize.

But Bella wasn't going to be first. And Rosalie didn't seem like she wanted to come out of her room any time soon. Bella sighed, suddenly longing for Edward's content presence. The boy liked the tone of his voice, no doubt, but he was also perfectly happy to sit and hold her. And Bella wanted that right now. She longed for Edward. She longed for Alice. She longed for Rosalie, though she tried desperately to throw that longing out the window. Using the pillow as a brace, Bella beat down on her head, trying to force the blonde from her thoughts. Though it seemed that the more times she hit herself, the harder she hit herself, the more prevalent Rosalie became. Pretty soon she was all that Bella could see, and she smiled at her, taunting her mind at the fact that she, Rosalie, couldn't be thwarted so easily.

Pathetic human

Bella hit the pillow harder, tears of rage pooling in her eyes as she did so. What right did Rosalie have to make assumptions about her? What right did Rosalie have to anything? And why the hell did it matter so much? The pillow was slowly becoming pulpy as Bella wailed on it, kicking her feet against the mattress as she unleashed her anger on her sleeping quarters.

"Perhaps this is a bad time," called a voice from the corner of Bella's mind. The thrashing stopped instantly and Bella shot up, the pillow falling from her face and landing with a plop on her lap. Crimson flooded into Bella's cheeks as her eyes focused on the statuesque figure of Rosalie standing in her doorway. Rosalie met her eyes for the briefest of moments before bringing them down to study the package she was holding in her hands. Bella took this opportunity to note that Rosalie's hair was pulled up again, and familiar shoes were on her feet.

"You could have knocked," Bella told her, still blushing as she crawled off of the bed and put the pillow back in place. Rosalie looked slowly up at her and nodded.

"I did. But you didn't answer. And I heard strange sounds. It sounded like you were strangling yourself in you sheets."(1)

"And you thought you'd come to my rescue?" Bella's tone was light and indeed questioning, but both girls knew that this was the extent of what the human's bitterness sounded like. She was still frightened of Rosalie. That was certain, she could feel it in the thudding of her heart. But she didn't want the vampire to go. So, she did the best that she could do, even if it was snide, to keep Rosalie standing at her doorway. Rosalie looked sadly at Bella, easing the human's thudding heart just a bit, and continued to run her hands over the box.

"I…I wanted to make sure you were okay, as far as it goes. I'm glad that you are." Rosalie took a deep breath, in disbelief that the words fell so effortlessly from her lips. "And I wanted to apologize. I was extremely out of line." She lowered her head, finding it terribly difficult to keep focus with the human. Bella watched her do this, thoroughly confused. This was Rosalie, right? Rosalie being…diminutive? She had to have been faking, or put up to this. No, Bella didn't buy it just yet, no matter how much she wanted to.

"Did someone put you up to this?" Bella asked, gesturing for Rosalie to enter the room. The blonde took one step inside of the threshold and stopped again, shaking her head.

"No, I was out of line. I'm trying to correct it. Are you or are you not going to accept my apology?"Her eyes hardened and fell upon the human. There was the Rosalie that Bella knew. Now that she was asserting herself Bella found that she could understand all of this a little more clearly. But it was still…bizarre. Days of silence only to come in as the submissive one. It just didn't add up. Then again, maybe Bella didn't know enough to judge.

"I want to accept your apology if it's sincere, Rosalie. If Alice or Edward or someone told you to do it, I don't want it." Bella crossed her arms, waiting for the vampire's response. Rosalie looked around the room for a moment before placing the box on a dresser and stepping towards Bella. In spite of herself, Bella panicked just a bit, hitching when Rosalie came near. Rosalie hitched also and Bella watched as her strong shoulders fell.

"I don't want you to jump when I'm near. I don't want you to be afraid. I don't know how to convey it any better than that." Rosalie met Bella's eyes for just a moment, then looked away again. Bella took a deep breath and a step forward, closing the distance between them.

"I don't want to be afraid either. Apology accepted." Rosalie exhaled slowly, almost in relief and flashed Bella the tiniest of smiles. Then she stepped back and headed over to the dresser, picking up the box from it.

"Your alternator came in. I didn't know if you want to…" Rosalie drifted, not wanting to say it for fear that Bella would hear the opinion in her voice. Luckily, Bella seemed to understand. She smiled and gave an eager nod.

"I'd love to watch."

0-0-0-0-0

Bella stood to the right of Rosalie, watching like she had before as the blonde worked on her car with ease. She was doing a lot of connecting and bolting it seemed but Bella didn't dare ask. Things were still fragile, it seemed, between the two of them. She would know. As a result of this fragility, neither of them had spoken since Bella accepted Rosalie's invite. They had walked side by side together down the stairs, out the door and to the garage. It was only when they were nearing Bella's truck that Rosalie sped up, reaching the car and lifting the hood up. She tossed the keys to the Chevy at Bella and though it didn't look pretty, the human managed to catch them. The box was then placed at Bella's feet and she knelt on the ground, using the keys to open it. Inside was what Bella could only assume was an alternator. Rosalie lifted it from the box, gave it a quick look over, and proceeded to the truck with it. Bella came over to watch and was still doing that now.

Rosalie kept darting back and forth for new wrenches and sockets and the like, but she appeared at ease. As time wore on Bella neared a bit closer to the vampire and was able to see her hands as they worked. She noticed that, yes, they were dirty but also that they were tender. A stupid word to use for car maintenance but Bella could see it no other way. Rosalie was being as gentle with this truck as she would with Bella herself. Bella blushed at that sudden thought, causing Rosalie to look up in concern.

"Something wrong?" she asked, lifting her hands from the truck and placing them on her hips. It dirtied her shirt and jeans this time. Bella shook her head, mumbling a sort of apology and Rosalie looked at her for a few moments more before she returned to the truck. "Do you want to help?" she asked quietly, looking over to the human.

Bella's eyes widened. This truck was big, most likely complex and she was sure to find the implode button on it. But Rosalie was confident. She could see it in her eyes. Rosalie was confident in her. Deciding not to answer outwardly, Bella merely stepped closer, shoulder to shoulder with Rosalie. She leaned over the engine as Rosalie was doing and held her hands out, waiting for instruction.

"Do you see these wires?" Rosalie asked, waving said wires in her hand. Bella nodded. "I just need you to hold them out of the way while I work on these mounting bolts and dig around for the drive belt." She waved the wires again and Bella reached out, clutching them in her hand. She pulled them gently to the side and Rosalie placed her hand on hers, moving it over just a bit more. When she let go Bella noticed grime on her hand and she smiled as Rosalie left and returned with a wrench. She worked quickly. Far too quickly for Bella's tastes and when she finished she smiled at herself, dropping the wrench to the floor and digging around in the engine. Finding what she was looking for, Rosalie reattached the belt and took the wires from Bella, connecting them quickly.

To attach one of them, Rosalie had to lean a little to the right, causing her to bump into Bella. She whispered an apology, as there was no need to use her voice so close and attached the wire, fully aware that Bella had not moved and was allowing her to push into her when she could have simply moved out of the way. With the wire attached, Rosalie slowly withdrew herself from Bella's side until she was standing tall once more. "Would you mind starting it for me, just to make sure?" Rosalie asked, breaking the silence. Bella sifted the keys from her pocket and headed over to the truck. She put the key in the ignition and listened as the truck roared to life. She smiled and watched as her hood closed, revealing Rosalie, who was also smiling, but just a bit. She seemed fairly proud of herself and Bella shut the truck off, heading back over to her.

"Well, that's that," Rosalie said quietly, staring at the hood of the truck.

"Thank you," Bella said, hoping that Rosalie caught just how much she meant it. Rosalie kept staring straight ahead, but she nodded her head slowly.

"You're welcome. Normally I would advise you to take it out for a drive but since this old heap doesn't have a computer of sorts, you should be fine for now."

"I think I'd still like to take it out for a drive. Just in case. I mean, we all know my luck."

Rosalie's brow rose a bit at that and she nodded thoughtfully. Bella looked her over and found herself toying with her hands. "Would you like to come with me?" she asked slowly. Rosalie looked at her then, her brow furrowed in confusion. Bella could understand why and a certain fear rose up within her as she contemplated setting the dream straight, with the vampire. She didn't want to. Not yet. Things were still very fragile. "I mean, you have a better ear than I do. You could maybe listen to make sure that the truck is good in all aspects?"

Bella blushed and Rosalie sighed. For a moment she considered informing Bella that she had already given the entire truck a look-over. And that as far as that old Chevy went, things were in top functioning order. Bella licked her lips and her eyes darted from side to side as she fumbled with the keys in her hand. "Sure, that'd be a good idea," Rosalie answered slowly, not bothering to witness Bella's reaction as she went over to the passenger side and climbed in. It looked like Bella stood there for a moment before she actually started moving and climbed into the truck. Rosalie watched as she then closed her eyes when the truck started with ease.

Bella pulled the truck out slowly and headed down the long pathway that led to the Cullen home. As she was driving into town, Bella looked over at Rosalie. She had a seatbelt on, most likely to keep up appearances and Bella reminded herself to put hers on at the next stop. Rosalie's hands were folded neatly across her lap. Again, she was looking straight ahead and staring much further than down the road. It was hard to look away from and Bella found herself compelled to find out what Rosalie was thinking about.

Suddenly, Rosalie gasped and Bella turned her eyes to the road. Something was in their way and Bella didn't care what. She closed her eyes and slammed the brakes, feeling something hard press gently into her chest. Her entire body lifted from the seat and yet she remained in place, never moving forward towards the windshield. The truck came to a rather impressive stop and Bella fell back into the seat, opening her eyes, feeling that they hadn't hit anything.

A car in front of them had come to a stop and Bella could tell that she'd just missed rear ending them. She took a deep breath and looked over at Rosalie. She was staring straight ahead, her hand gripping the ledge on the side of the truck. Bella noticed now that her left arm was extended and was in fact the object that was pressing into her chest, keeping her from colliding through the window. Bella whispered her name, noting that she didn't respond. The light turned green and Bella allowed Rosalie's arm to stay as she pulled off on an ill-used road. Once stopped, she brought her hands up and placed them gently on Rosalie's arm, rubbing it softly. Slowly the vampire looked over, watched Bella's actions for a moment, then tentatively withdrew her hand. Bella let her fingers graze along Rosalie's arm until it was gone.

"Did I hurt you?" Rosalie asked softly, her brow furrowing in anger already. Bella shook her head.

"No, you saved me. Thank you."

Rosalie swallowed hard and looked out the window. She closed her eyes and Bella watched as she took deep, even breaths. For a moment she contemplated reaching out and touching the blonde's shoulder, but Rosalie spoke before she could put that thought to action. "I thought that you saw it. And then we were growing closer and I don't get visions like Alice does. But you were flying through the windshield. It was in slow motion and you looked like you didn't even know you were out of the truck. Like you were still resting in the cab with my arm across you."

She looked over to Bella and stared at her for a moment. Bella noted that she had started gritting her teeth again and she also saw that her chin was quivering just barely. Throwing all of her qualms out the window, Bella scooted next to Rosalie, throwing her arms around her neck. Rosalie went rigid and Bella held her tightly, breathing into her collarbone. She pushed her chest against Rosalie's arm and the inside of her wrist against the vampire's neck. She wanted her to feel her pulse, her breath, to let her know that she was alive. She hadn't gone flying through the window, she was right here. And it was all thanks to Rosalie.

After a few deep breaths from Bella, Rosalie seemed to wake back up and Bella felt the saving arms on her back, holding her, not really tightly, but enough. Then she slid her arms back and rested them at her sides. Bella could tell that she was slightly embarrassed so she let Rosalie alone and instead scooted back to the driver's side and put her seatbelt on. She put the truck in gear and drove the both of them back to the Cullen house. Instead of stopping in front of the house, Bella went around to the back and parked the truck near the garage. The minute the truck stopped Bella heard the click of the seatbelt. Knowing the vampires all too well, Bella lunged out the door and called Rosalie's name. The blur stopped about twenty feet away and Rosalie, still standing tall, turned and waited as Bella raced up to her. She glared down at the girl but Bella was far too motivated to fall for her fear now.

"Rosalie," she breathed, out of breath from her run, "I just want you to know that I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for what I said about the dream. I lied." Rosalie's glare only grew as she huffed and turned to walk away. Bella lunged again and caught the blonde's hand, causing her to turn around.

Rosalie's brow rose and she opened her mouth to speak, but Bella shook her head and cut her off. "I don't want to tell you what I really think. Just know that what I said, my feelings about the dream, they were wrong." There was slight resistance to Bella's grasp and she placed her hand on top of Rosalie's to sandwich it between hers. Rosalie looked at it hesitantly and Bella could see the mechanics in her mind at work. She blushed, but couldn't find it within her to let go. Rosalie's hand was so cold, so perfect down to the nails.

Finally, Rosalie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I accept your apology." Bella smiled, only to feel Rosalie's other hand on top of hers. She looked up to meet the vampire's eyes, only to find that they were hard.

"Bella, what is thi—

Rosalie was suddenly cut off as Bella shook her head. "No, no questions. Please, let's just have one night of ease. One night where I'm not crying and you're not hurting…we're not hurting." Bella squeezed Rosalie's hand and let it fall from her grasp. Both of her hands fell and she never lost eye contact with Bella. After a moment or two, she seemed to relax and nod.

"One night,"

Bella opened her mouth to thank Rosalie, but she was already gone, the only trace of her found in the sound of a door closing.


	11. Chapter 11

Meant to Be

Rosalie lifted her hand in an attempt to strike herself, but stopped short. She did not strike and in return, was not stricken. So she allowed her head to fall and look down her feet. Her feet which were now wrapped in tennis shoes. Not the latest Parisian fashion like most would expect, although she did own many of those. Despite that, these were still her favorite pair. No one judged tennis shoes, because everyone owned a pair. Even Alice had a few. Rosalie didn't know why that made her feel better, but it did and she looked around the room sadly, listening as Bella finally made it into the house. She did not climb up the stairs and into Edward's room, but stayed downstairs. The faint sound of the TV turning on was heard and Rosalie wondered if the girl was really watching, or just distracting herself.

What a wonderful trait of a human, to be able to distract themselves. Rosalie envied it indeed, though she would never express it. A vampire could never truly be distracted, for their minds were too pristine for such nonsense. It would take a lot, and she did mean a lot, thinking briefly back of her incident with Bella's hair, of overload before a vampire mind could become so overworked to the point of distraction. But she, like the other members of her family played it off rather well. Staring off into the distance, making the appropriate facial expressions to indicate that she was lost in thought…it was all too easy.

Especially when in reality things were all too clear. Rosalie had very clearly seen from her peripherals that Bella was looking her over. Bella's eyes, like everyone's eyes, tended to rove over her of their own will. Rosalie had gotten used to it over the years, and yet Bella doing so when she thought she was distracted caused her to pretend to be distracted more often. Bringing her hand up to rest on her chest, Rosalie drummed her fingers on her exposed collarbone. One had to be logical and ration right now…and honest. She had to be honest with herself. Rosalie turned around, making sure that her door was closed. She turned her ear to the wall and listened. No one was near enough to hear her. She huffed, almost disappointed at that, but she was a woman of her word. She had to be honest with herself.

Her reflection, while beautiful, was disappointing and somewhat hard to look at. She grabbed the back of the chair that rested in front of the mirror and rested her hands on it, massaging it. Her eyes found herself again and she hated the own hesitance that she saw within herself. Deciding that it was best to just get it over with, Rosalie looked a deep breath.

"I…like her," she whispered humbly into the mirror. It made no response and she was grateful for that. That was enough honesty for one day, wasn't it? The blonde glared at her reflection, suddenly wishing that it would speak to her. That her conscience, her train of thought would personify itself in her reflection and she would step out and shake Rosalie until the answer came to her. What was the question again?

Rosalie Lillian Hale, was suddenly at an utter loss for words. And it was all because of Bella. It was all because of this silly little human that liked to toy with her emotions but was too scared to face her own. Or maybe she was too in love. Rosalie would have liked to have said that she understood that feeling, but it just wasn't the case.

Either way, this Swan girl, Bella, was proving to be rather difficult. In fact, if it weren't for her efforts, she and Rosalie would still be on barely civil terms. But no, Bella continued to pry, continued to make those strange, cryptic comments. Continued to pull Rosalie along on her little string. And why was Rosalie allowing herself to be pulled on this string? She was a smart girl, a logical girl. Surely she could stop this madness if she really wanted to. If she really wanted to…

Rosalie growled in anger and the chair snapped beneath her grip. She let it go and watched as the top of the back of the chair fell forward, held only by the fabric lining. Stupid, is what she was being. She was being stupid and immature and…and liking someone wasn't enough cause for all of this.

But then again…. Then again, she had been feeling rather peculiar lately. Rosalie knew that what she was feeling towards Bella was a certain type of attraction. But it was hesitant and unsure and quite frankly, it was the most human she'd felt in a long time. A long, melancholy sigh filled her room. What a moronic cliché: Bella made her feel human. Almost as bad as 'you make me wanna be a better vampire.'

Rosalie scoffed at herself. But it wasn't entirely her fault! As she'd thought before, Bella had instigated a lot of this. And Rosalie was, generally, good at reading people. She could see that Bella may have…liked her as well. Yes, Bella did like her as well. The vampire could see it, Alice seemed to see it, even the girl herself seemed to see it. Perhaps there was something there. Something that could…maybe…progress?

A door shut from downstairs and Rosalie heard the sounds of two people greeting, distinguishing immediately that it was Bella and Edward. The ruffling of clothing that initiated the embrace they could always be found in and then, a quick draw back. Rosalie looked to the door and stepped towards it, listening much more intently now. They were treading up the stairs together now, Edward's footsteps hard and angry. Bella followed meekly behind him and her scent wafted through the bottom of the blonde's door. Bella's scent…and Rosalie's. The vampire nodded sadly. For she definitely remembered the strange embrace that Bella put upon her, rubbing her vital pressure points against her skin, to feel her pulse. Trusting Rosalie entirely with being able to handle it. And she did, no matter how hard it was or embarrassing afterward. But the scent was strong, and vampire senses were stronger. It was only a matter of time before it would become too potent for Edward to not notice. Against all of her better judgment and reasoning, Rosalie moved down the wall to where her room was level with Edward's, and put her ear against it.

"Bella, you told me that this was nothing."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can smell her all over you!"

There was a pause, then, "The alternator came in today. Rosalie put it in for me. I may have hugged her as a thanks. Is that a crime?"

"Bella, you would have had to have done a lot more than just give her a quick hug for her scent to be that powerful on you. You're reeking of Rosalie!"

Rosalie grimaced at that, clawing at the wall and leaving more marks. However, Bella seemed quick to retaliate. "We've become close, Edward! I don't understand what the problem is with me being friends with your sister!"

"Your dream suggests more than friendship."

Another pause. "We already talked about this. It's in the past."

This time it was Edward's turn to pause. Some rustling of fabric and then Bella's heartbeat increased. Rosalie knew that rhythm all too well and she despised it just the same. Bella was frightened. Frightened of her own fiancé. Edward sighed and Rosalie could just see him running his hand through his bizarre hair as he tried to find a way to blame himself. "Maybe this is all too much for you. Maybe I should…go away for awhile."

Bella gasped and Rosalie felt a smile gripping at the corners of her mouth. However she couldn't let it show just yet. Nothing was set in stone. "I…what? Go away? Go away to where?"

"Emmett's been talking about a trip, shortly after the wedding. I could accompany him beforehand. We can put the wedding on hold. I know you don't want it anyway. But I can go, if you want, and allow you to carry on your silly fantasy with my sister."

"Silly fantasy?"

"Bella, do you really think she loves you? Loves you like you think she does? Loves you like I love you?"

Rosalie grew angry then, taking a step back to growl without being heard. He didn't have any right to speak for her. None at all. Edward had no idea of what went on inside of her. Mind made up, Rosalie stepped towards the door. She had every intention of bursting in on their conversation, accepting the blame of eavesdropping but also making right her own thoughts. Edward would not speak for her. Hand placed on the doorknob, Rosalie heard Bella's final choked words.

"Please, don't leave me."

The blonde vampire sighed, closing her eyes. It was never meant to be. Slowly, she let her hand fall from the door.


	12. Chapter 12

Enough

Bella didn't come over for the next few days. Alice was growing quite annoyed at that because the wedding was a mere two days away. A wedding that they had only rehearsed once for and a wedding that no one was sure was really going to happen. Alice played off her nerves well, as any ninety year old would, by decorating and planning and confirming orders left and right. And while sometimes her questions and comments of the same subject would annoy the other members of the household, they let it carry on. Because Alice could play it off well, but that didn't mean that it all went unnoticed. Everyone could see. She'd seen something. She'd seen something she most definitely wasn't going to spill.

But Alice was on edge. And the result of that was everyone else became on edge. Pretty soon the little pixie was avoided by all except Jasper, who hung dutifully by her side and helped her hang garland or make phone calls.

Edward stayed in his room a lot now and from what everyone could gather, he attempted to sleep in the bed at night. A foolish thought, but no one could really bring themselves to say anything to him. When Alice finally worked up the impertinence to ask him 'where the hell Bella was' he merely responded with a shrug, saying that she would like to be alone for a few days. And he did too. And in his room he stayed. Rosalie, on the other hand, couldn't be in her room for more than a few minutes at a time. She spent her time either in the garage, working on cars, or out in the woods somewhere. Sometimes Emmett would go with her. Other times he could be found questioning her whereabouts along with the rest of the family.

However, Rosalie always returned. And with what had been going on in the past few days, no one but the parents thought to ask anything. It was all played off well, like it always had been. And thus was what had been happening at the Cullen household. It wasn't until Alice had finally convinced Rosalie to let her fit her for the dress that anyone actually had a conversation with each other.

Rosalie stood in Alice's room on a tiny stool in front of a large standing mirror. She was in nothing but the finest undergarments and she studied her features as she waited for her sister to come back. She really shouldn't have gone with the black. It simply didn't look right with her eyebrows. Perhaps Alice would have something to offer to this notion.

"I agree. Navy would have been a better choice," Alice answered, stepping into the room with the gown and closing the door behind her. Rosalie turned to acknowledge her, then turned back to the mirror and nodded thoughtfully.

"I already took the tags off. Do you want them?"

"Sadly, my figure is no match for your curves," Alice answered distantly, trying to find the neck of the dress in her hand. Her tiny fingers finally what she needed and she stood, arms outstretched with the dress hanging on it, and headed over to Rosalie. Having done this many times before for her sister, Rosalie bent down and slid her body into the dress, standing and letting it unfold itself with her height. It was a pale blue color with glitter scattered here and there. It hung tenderly from her curves and fluttered with even the softest of movements. And while Rosalie liked it very much, liked the way it went with her hair, she couldn't help but wonder if Alice had picked it out, or Bella.

Rosalie looked away as Alice studied the hem of the dress. She'd done a fairly good job of blocking Bella from her thoughts recently. Partly because she didn't want her all too nosey brother butting in on her thoughts and partly because…well, she didn't want to think about Bella. She'd heard Bella leave shortly after she persuaded Edward to stay with her. Rosalie found that she couldn't listen to the rest of their conversation and she left to the woods for the rest of the evening. Since then Bella hadn't returned and Rosalie didn't really know what to make of that. Sure, it hurt a bit, having to endure all of this yet again. Of course, it didn't help that she was having all of these terrible feelings in a bridesmaid's dress.

What was the saying? Always the bridesmaid, never the—

"Alice," Rosalie whispered, looking down at her feet. Her sister looked up, a single needle dangling from her porcelain lips and Rosalie swallowed. "Are…you sure that Bella still wants me in the wedding?"

Alice pulled the pin from her mouth and held Rosalie's gaze. "She hasn't told me otherwise."

"So all of this could be for naught?"

"Rosalie, you look beautiful in this—

"I look beautiful all the time, Alice! That's not what I'm talking about."

"I know," Alice sighed. "But the god's honest truth is that I don't know." She gestured with the pin to her head and Rosalie nodded, looking out the window. Alice watched her for a few minutes, her brow furrowing at the strange look in her sister's eyes. Then her brow softened, and she broke out into a smile. "There really is something, isn't there?" she asked with a melancholy cheer that only Alice could maneuver. Rosalie looked down at her, confused at the reaction on the pixie's face.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. Alice opened her mouth to answer only to turn to the door. Rosalie turned and she felt his presence moments before he knocked twice, opening the door. Rosalie straightened her back as he entered and Edward allowed a small smile to grace his features.

"Sorry for the intrusion, Alice, but do you mind if I speak with Rosalie for a moment?" he asked with nothing but charm in his tone. Alice's eyes darted back and forth from Edward to the hem of Rosalie's dress. After a moment she looked up at Rosalie, who nodded. Alice returned it and stood, smiling to Edward and scampering out the door. Edward closed the door behind him and leaned on it for a moment. His eyes glided up and down Rosalie's body, studying the dress. They both knew he was just studying the dress.

"I like it," he said finally, gesturing with his hands. "Alice certainly does know her fashion, as do you."

"Thank you, Edward. Now, what's your real reason for being here?" Rosalie asked coldly, placing her hands on her hips. Edward furrowed his brow at her then smiled as if she was a petulant child. He strutted into the room and hung his head.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. How are you handling all of this?" he asked.

"Handling all of what?"

"Rosalie, we both know why I'm here." Edward's eyes hardened for a moment and Rosalie quirked a brow, daring him to bring on that anger. Of course, the look soon faded and Rosalie sighed in annoyance. "I know that Bella asked you to be the bridesmaid. And of course I'm happy with her decision. But if it's too much for you, if you can't do this, I'll understand. Bella will understand. We'll understand." He flashed her that crooked grin and Rosalie shook her head.

"I'm fine, Edward. More than fine. Peachy. How are you? I noticed you've spent a lot of time in that bed. Practicing?" Rosalie had to fight to keep the laughter out of her voice but managed to work it out. Edward growled and Rosalie shrugged as innocently as she could allow herself to muster. But his anger only lasted for a moment before he tried again.

"Look, Rosalie, we all know how proud you are. And it's a trait that's pertinent to you and we all love you for it. But there's no shame in not doing something you don't want to do."

"What makes you think I don't want to do this?" Rosalie asked, watching her brother carefully as he paced around the room.

"I know that you and Bella have been rather…close lately. And it must be hard to see her slipping away. So if you need to step down from this position…maybe just be a guest or you're more than welcome not to show up. We would all understand. No one, especially Bella, wants you to be uncomfortable." He smiled gently at Rosalie and then gave a soft nod as if he was prodding her to continue.

Rosalie looked away for a moment and closed her eyes. This wedding was going to be hard. She knew this. She knew it from the very beginning. The minute she saw her brother's empty chair in the cafeteria that day, she knew. It was never going to be as it was again. And she had been proud. She had held her own. In fact, she'd held her own for over seventy years. Surely she could take a break from all of this. Maybe she and Emmett could run off somewhere before…no, no Emmett was leaving. And she was happy to see him off on his own. Maybe she should leave the wedding…

Out of the corner of her eye Rosalie saw Edward smirk. It was very, very tiny. A human standing right in front him probably wouldn't have noticed. But Rosalie did. And the moment her mind went into Hebrew, both she and Edward knew that he was caught. He looked up at her slowly and she turned her head just a bit. "Edward…are you jealous?" she asked innocently, her eyes widening in a southern belle sort of way. He glowered at her.

"Why would I be jealous?"

"I don't know. Perhaps is because you can smell me all over every inch of Bella. How many times have you washed those sheets? Am I on them now?" Rosalie's eyebrows rose as Edward began growling. She stepped off of the tiny stool and stood almost eye level with him, giving him a quizzical look. "Don't I smell good, Edward? Just like the first time you saw me? But you didn't want me, did you. And now you have to smell me all over those ridiculous sheets." She laughed hollowly and Edward growled, closing the distance between them with one bound.

"What have you done with her?" he shouted.

"We worked on the truck, brushed each other's hair and had a few nice chats. Any of that break of your rules?"

Edward twitched for a moment, his body shaking with rage. Rosalie watched him calmly, her body stiffing just in case he should really lose it. After a moment or two however, Edward's eyes went wide and he took a step back, running his hands through his hair. Rosalie watched him happily. Even if it was just for a moment, Edward had momentarily allowed her to forget that this was simply her problem. And while a part of her genuinely felt bad for him, another more prominent part of her wanted him to suffer for every moment of it. Just like she had done- was doing.

Suddenly, Edward turned around. Rosalie watched him cautiously as he came forward. Then he looked up at her. "You know, Rosalie, you mock me for being prude all the time. But when have you and Emmett last copulated?" Rosalie's eyes widened in shock from the mere fact that Edward of all people would say such a thing. He nodded and pressed forward. "I hear his thoughts all the time. He doesn't mean it, but he is a man after all. A man with needs. Just like Bella is a woman with needs. Needs that I can certainly give her. Can you do that, Rosalie? Can you be there for her in all ways that she needs?"

Rosalie closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to drown out his words. He didn't know what he was talking about. He was only being Edward. Getting to her like he always does. "You don't know what you're talking about," she hissed at him. "You've no right to say such things."

"And you've no right to take my fiancée. Bella is mine. She's marrying me."

"Bella isn't yours. Bella isn't anyone's."

Edward opened his mouth to counter Rosalie when the door was suddenly pushed open. Both vampires turned to see Bella entering the room. Rosalie closed her eyes again as Edward smiled and headed over to her, kissing her on the cheek. "Good to see you're back, love. I've missed you," he said wholeheartedly. Rosalie knew it to be true and she merely kept her posture straight as Bella tore from Edward's arms and headed over to her side.

"Rosalie? What's the matter?" Bella asked, reaching out and placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. Her eyes opened at Bella's touch and she looked down at her. Golden eyes darted to Edward and then flashed back before she shook her head.

"Nothing's the matter, Bella. Thank you for asking," Rosalie answered simply, turning her head to face Edward. Bella did as well, her hand falling from Rosalie's and absently travelling down her arm. Edward watched this and looked up to meet Bella's eyes. She appeared to not have a clue as to what she did.

"What did you do, Edward?" Bella asked again, her brow furrowing. Edward looked away and shook his head. Then he ran his hands through his hair and turned around.

"Apparently I didn't do enough," he said as he out of the room, closing the door behind him.


	13. Chapter 13

All I Ask

Rosalie closed her eyes and listened to the car as it started and drove away on the loose gravel driveway. Edward and Emmett were heading to the airport. The wedding was officially off and Edward couldn't bear to look either of them. It was for the best that he left too. Rosalie had tried to speak with him but he wouldn't allow it. He did admit though, as he slung his last bag over his shoulder, that he was in the wrong, and that she should do what made her happy. He might be back, he might not, but that didn't matter. And while Rosalie desperately wanted to believe his words, she couldn't help but feel sick with guilt.

How did all of this happen? Edward was really the only person that had been alone for so long. And when Bella came along they had all thought that she was the one. She would be Edward's one and only mate. But she, just like Rosalie, fell short. In truth she shouldn't be feeling badly at all. Edward was a spoiled brat. But that didn't mean that he didn't deserve love. She of all people knew that. The sound of the car was gone and Rosalie let her head fall. Emmett was really gone this time.

She knew that Alice would need helps removing all of the wedding decorations. And there were several calls to be made about all of the cancellations. But she couldn't be there now, with all of them. The mood was going to be somber or irritated all around and while Rosalie was the queen of both of those, even she might get annoyed at all of it. And there was no need in taking chances on everyone's temper. Besides, Bella might still be in the house. And that was just another can of worms Rosalie didn't feel up to right now.

Her body shivered as the wind whipped around her blonde hair. Bella, Bella, Bella. Who are you and what do you want, seriously? Age old vampires can't handle themselves around you and yet you get tripped up by a nonexistent rock, or twig, or glare of the eyes. It didn't make much sense. Bella Swan did not make much sense at all. And perhaps that's why Rosalie kept thinking about her. The blonde laughed. An enviable notion indeed.

'Denial is not strong, Rosalie. Denial is weak. Why can't you just fully admit to yourself what's going on here?'

Not really up for answering the voice in her head, Rosalie stepped further into the woods, hoping that something would take her mind off of more prevalent matters. She stepped easily over the foliage, occasionally reaching out her hand to stroke the moss hanging on an ancient tree. It was calming, and she was very grateful for it. The twigs cracked beneath her feather steps and she imagined Bella trying to climb through all of this. How many times would she fall? The vampire smiled to herself as she reached a clearing, stopping to pretend to catch her breath.

What to make of Bella? It was clear that she had feelings for Rosalie, but it was also clear that she had feelings for Edward. Choosing not to see the boys off, Rosalie had no idea if Bella had even been there at all. Did she know that Edward left? Surely he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. And what if she was guilt ridden like Rosalie was? What if she blamed Rosalie for taking her Edward away? Rosalie grimaced and slid her hand up and down the tree next to her. She hadn't really thought of that possibility, but it seemed fairly plausible. Because there were indeed so many things that Rosalie could have done to prevent all of this from happening. She could have not let Bella into her room. She could have not gone into Bella's. She could have told Alice that Jacob Black was a more suitable choice to work on her truck. She could have listened to her conscience instead of her heart. So many things…

Rosalie sighed and as she did so, she caught the faintest whiff of something familiar. She was off immediately, tracking the scent deeper and deeper into the woods. It smelled like Bella. And if it wasn't Bella then she wanted to know what the hell it was. For the human should definitely not be out here alone. Not with vampires running and stray twigs everywhere just waiting to trip up the person without any sense. Making a hard left, Rosalie appeared before a clearing. Bella was lying down in the sodden clearing, her chest heaving. Rosalie could make out the sounds of her crying and she waffled for a moment, debating on whether or not to leave the girl be.

Bella shot up then, turning around and facing the vampire. Mildly impressed at being discovered, Rosalie stepped forward, watching as Bella frantically attempted to wipe her eyes. "How did you know I was behind you?" Rosalie asked as she came over and sat with Bella. The condensation on the grass was soaking through her jeans but she didn't mind it at the moment. Bella just shrugged and sniffed simultaneously.

"Comes with the territory of being with vampires. I've learned to tell when someone's watching me."

"I wasn't watching you. I wasn't sure if you wanted company or not." Rosalie looked down at her hands. She wasn't watching Bella. Well, she was, but for entirely different purposes than that of her brother. Bella made no response to that but Rosalie could still hear her uneven breathing. She looked up at the human and gestured to the trees. "I can leave you be, if you'd like."

"No…no I think it's best for me to not be alone right now," Bella said easily, her eyes raking over Rosalie's beauty yet again. It seemed as if it had to be done before conscious speaking could take place. One must have had to get used to Rosalie before speaking to her. It seemed plausible.

"How…are you?" Rosalie asked tentatively as she pulled at the grass beneath her. Bella shook her head and looked up at the overcast sky.

"I'm doing as well as can be expected. I'm still sad, you know. But it's for the best."

"Do you think so?"

"I do. It's not fair what I've been doing." Bella looked to Rosalie in hopes that she would get the hint. But if she did Rosalie made no sign of it.

"I'm assuming you didn't see them off?" Rosalie asked and Bella shook her head again.

"No. Edward came over last night and told me what he was going to do. I thought my freaking out was going to wake up my dad but he just smiled at me. You know that crooked smile."

"I do."

"Did you see them off?"

Rosalie shook her head, pulling out more grass. Bella looked longingly at her, desperately wanting to know what she was thinking. What were they going to do now? What could be done? A lot of things could be done…but would they be? "You and Emmett seemed so happy together. I never would have thought…"

"Emmett and I were happy together. But not happy enough. I couldn't give him everything he needed. It was my idea that he go."

"But…you're Rosalie. I can't imagine you not being enough for someone," Bella said, genuinely in shock. She was the most perfect person Bella had ever seen in her life and yet she wasn't enough. It simply didn't add up in her head. Rosalie gave an apathetic chuckle, as if she'd heard the punch line to Bella's joke before and lifted her head to face the human.

"There's a lot that you don't know about me," she invited, her voice hushed. Bella swallowed, feeling a blush creep into her cheeks. She must have misinterpreted that tone. There was no way that Rosalie was…this was all too confusing. And it was all too fast and too wonderful and horrible at the same time to be true. Bella watched as Rosalie's expression turned to concern and she leaned forward on her knees. "Bella, you're shaking," she said, reaching her hand out as if to touch the human.

Bella looked down at her hands and noticed that they were in fact shaking. And her heart was racing. "I'm scared," she whispered, looking up at Rosalie. "I'm scared about absolutely everything. I've lost my fiancé, my friend. The wedding's been cancelled and I don't even know if you guys want me around anymore. Everything's unraveling at my fingertips and I don't want to lose you or anyone else. I feel like I'm losing my life before I even get a chance at it." She closed her eyes, feeling the tears fall down her reddened cheeks. As soon as she closed her eyes, she regretted it. For now when she opened them, Rosalie might very well be gone, just like Edward had done so before. Her body began to tremble even more now and it wasn't until she felt the shuffling of grass next to her that she could take a breath.

Rosalie was near her now. She could feel it, and she was grateful for it. A part of her wanted to reach out to her but that didn't seem like the right thing to do at the moment. She licked her lips, feeling Rosalie's breath on her shoulder. She wished that she knew what the blonde was thinking. Or at least maybe she could get a sign. That way she wouldn't feel so alone in all of this.

"Me too," Rosalie said finally and more hushed than Bella had ever heard it before. The human opened her eyes and found Rosalie sitting just in front of her. They couldn't have been more than a few inches apart.

"W-what?"

"I'm…scared too. And I have eternity." Rosalie smiled somberly and Bella couldn't help but return it. Looking down to Rosalie's lap, Bella saw that Rosalie's hands were resting on her thighs. She reached out slowly and placed her hand on top of one of them. Rosalie closed her eyes, the fear they both felt coming into place.

"If I can be blunt…what the hell are we doing?" Bella asked, laughing just a bit. Rosalie shook her head and sighed.

"I can't say that I know entirely."

"So…maybe we should just go slowly then?"

Rosalie looked away for a moment, placing her other hand on top of Bella's. "I'll do whatever you want me to. Or…I'll try."

"Well, that's all I ask.


	14. Chapter 14

Calling

Bella sat on her bed, re-reading one of her tired favorites. Even though she had most of them memorized, she still liked reading them. Because they didn't require much thought. Bella couldn't deal with thinking right now. It had been an entire month since Edward and Emmett had left. And while Bella was still saddened by Edward's absence…she was ready to move on. Edward had, or at least he was trying to. And she wanted to at least try too. It was just like her conversation with Rosalie. She felt like she was wasting her life. She wanted to get out and meet new people. Of course, it didn't help that the one person that she had wanted to see during this time was avoiding her. True, Bella hadn't made any effort to head over to the Cullen residence. But she didn't make any attempt to come over here either. Bella sighed, throwing the book to the floor and listening to it plop.

She wondered what Edward was doing at this moment; if he was enjoying himself. Knowing him, he probably wasn't. He was probably brooding somewhere. She didn't mean that in a bad way, that was just how Edward was. Bella sniffed and looked up at her ceiling. She didn't regret her decision, but with no one in her life right now, she was certainly starting to miss the guy. Especially if the person she left him for wasn't going to contribute at all.

There was a sudden knock at the door. Knowing that her father wasn't home, Bella shot up rather quickly and headed down the stairs, hoping not to miss this unexpected visitor. She reached the door and used her weight to pull it open, nearly toppling over when she saw who was on the other side. Speak of the devil indeed. Rosalie was standing on the other side of the door, glaring slightly, though her expression softened just a smidge when she laid eyes on Bella. The human smiled at her and stood to the side, allowing Rosalie through. She brushed past Bella and went to stand in the living room, sitting only when Bella gestured to do so.

Bella sat down next to her and smiled, gesturing towards the door. "You know, Edward usually just comes in through my window," she laughed, only to stop quickly when she realized that Rosalie didn't return it. She felt her cheeks blushing but could do nothing to stop them. Rosalie's eyes were golden but she'd since learned that that didn't mean much when the vampire got angry. She only hope that today wasn't one of those days. Rosalie didn't say anything at first. She merely looked around the house, rubbing her hands together.

"Your father isn't home," she stated, to which Bella nodded.

"He's finishing up on some paperwork at the station."

Rosalie nodded thoughtfully and looked around again before she met Bella's eyes. "So, how have you been these past few weeks?"

"Oh, you mean this past month?" Bella asked, slightly hurt. Rosalie's expression didn't change and she shrugged. "It's been okay. I was sad at first but then I just grew lonely. I was…hoping you'd come around. Even Alice hasn't come by."

Rosalie's eyes flickered away from Bella's for a moment and she straightened against the couch. "I'm sorry that we—I didn't come to visit. I figured that you needed some time."

"Well, you could have come over to see if I needed time."

"You could have come over and told me that you did or didn't need time." Rosalie's brow furrowed and Bella sighed.

"Fine, fine, we're both in the wrong. Either way I'm glad you're here."

Rosalie nodded in agreement, then ran her hands up and down her thighs. "So, you're still confident in your decision then?"

"Yes," Bella answered almost a little too quickly, causing Rosalie's eyebrows to raise. Bella swallowed hard and moved her hands around a bit as she tried to think of the right thing to say. "I mean…I loved Edward but he wasn't…he just wasn't. And I feel bad for what I did to him but I don't want to go back to him. And it's like we talked about that day in the meadow. I don't want my life slipping by anymore."

"Bella, would you like to go out with me on Friday?"

The words had come out so quickly that Bella almost hadn't heard them. Thank goodness she was listening for them. But still, she was just a bit surprised. "What, really?" She looked to Rosalie in hopes of clarification and the blond sighed.

"There's no sense in denying or prolonging it. I would like to take you out on Friday, if you're up for it. If you want to," she mumbled.

"Let me just say yes in advance, okay? Yes. But, why an official date?" Bella asked, watching as Rosalie looked rather confused.

"If we're going to do this, Bella, we're going to do it properly. It'll be just like your human friends. Except for there will be no trite confessions of love after two minutes," Rosalie answered, scowling with today's youth. Didn't they realize how important love was? Apparently not with the way they scattered it around. It was downright embarrassing. Thankfully, Bella never looked to be that type.

"Yes, ma'am," Bella answered, laughing a bit. "No declarations of love on the first date." She giggled a bit more and Rosalie's scowl increased.

"Do you think that's funny? The way your kind abuse that word?" she growled, her temper rising. For a moment Bella considered being scared, but then another thought popped into her head. She narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger directly at Rosalie's nose.

"Okay, we're going to have to talk about that right there," she said slowly, allowing Rosalie to register her words. "I will not go out with you if you get angry at everything I say. Honestly, your temper doesn't work out in the best for either of us. You can't…you can't act like you're better than me all of the time, Rosalie. Like you're always right. It's not fair. I don't have a death glare," Bella said as calmly as possible, hoping that her words didn't anger Rosalie any more than they had already done.

"Oh, and also, if you're serious about this, Rosalie, really serious like I hope you are, we've got to…change. I mean, you can't hitch every time I try to touch you and I've got to stop being so scared in your presence, you know?" Rosalie nodded as if Bella's words were the most obvious words in the world.

"It sounds like a lot of work," she said, and somehow Bella knew that she was kidding…kind of.

"Well, I'd like to think that this is going to be worth it," she murmured, reaching out to place her hand on top of Rosalie's, more than proud that she didn't hitch when they touched.

"Me too," Rosalie answered after some thought. "Me too."


	15. Chapter 15

Keep the Soda Cold

Bella sat on the couch, absently toying with her nails. Her father, Charlie, watched her from his chair, despite the fact that he appeared to be focused on the game. She looked very nervous. And he could hardly blame her. After all that had happened in these past few weeks with the wedding being cancelled and Edward just up and leaving, dinner with Rosalie certainly sounded intimidating. He'd only met her a few times and while she was always cordial and a lovely girl, Charlie had no doubt that she had the ability to rip someone's throat out. Then again, taking Bella out for the day was a nice gesture, wasn't it? Perhaps he wasn't giving her enough credit.

"So, Rosalie's taking you out, is she?" he asked, muting the TV. Bella jumped at the sound of his voice but quickly nodded, going back to her nails. "Any reason why?"

"She just…thought it'd be nice if she got me out of the house. Because, you know, I could use some distractions from all that's happened," Bella answered. Charlie furrowed his brow and shrugged, turning the TV back on. If she wasn't going to try, neither was he. She'd him if something was up when she was ready. Headlights flashed through the blinds of the living room and Bella jumped up, as did her father. When she looked over at her father, Charlie shrugged.

"Excuse me for thinking that kids still came to the door," he said, preparing to sit down. Just as he'd bent his knees, however, there was a knock at the door. Ignoring the smug look on her father's face, Bella opened the door and stood back to let Rosalie in. She was dressed in dark jeans with a tight fitting jacket. And, of course, she was stunning. Bella blushed upon her arrival, wondering if she was underdressed but Rosalie said nothing as she stepped through the door and extended her hand.

"It's nice to see you again, Charlie," she said smoothly. Charlie reached out and shook her hand, smiling kindly.

"You too, Rosalie. It sure is sweet of you to take Bella out today. I hope she's not underdressed," he said, proving that he and Bella definitely shared some genes. He looked over to Bella and she nodded, motioning to her shirt. Rosalie looked at her own outfit then smiled, shaking her head.

"No, you're fine, Bella. I'm probably overdressed. I won't have her home late, sir," she said with quite the cheeky smirk, looking at Charlie as she did so. For some reason, this flustered Charlie and he turned a wonderful shade of red, stuttering them out the door. When the front door shut behind them, Rosalie looked to Bella and creased her brow. "I didn't mean to make your father uncomfortable."

"I think it was the strange look you gave him about curfew."

"That's what I get for smiling," Rosalie said almost coldly, causing Bella to take a side step away from her. Judging by her tone now, it wouldn't have been believed that this date was Rosalie's idea. Maybe she was just nervous and had a different way of showing it. Or maybe she knew that Edward hardly ever took her out. Or…maybe she was just being Rosalie. Yeah, that seemed like the best idea. Bella smiled at her as Rosalie held the door open for her and climbed in. In just seconds Rosalie was also in the car, buckled, and pulling out of the driveway. Bella clicked her seatbelt into place and Rosalie looked approvingly at it.

"So, when you said have me home late, how late did you mean?" Bella asked hoping for something to ease the silence in the car.

"What time is your curfew?"

"Midnight."

"Well then, sometime before midnight."

"Oh, so we'll be out all day then?"

Rosalie looked over at Bella, somewhat crestfallen. "I can have you home earlier if you'd like. Any time you'd want." Bella smiled, easing the vampire's worry, and shook her head.

"No, no, it's just…this is gonna be fun. I'm excited." Rosalie licked her lips and opened her mouth only to close it again and face the road. Same old Rosalie, and Bella had to admit that she liked that. Though she was used to the Cullens driving at ridiculous speeds, she still gripped the door tightly, looking rather perplexed as they passed Port Angeles. "Where are we going?"

"Seattle,"

"For coffee?"

"Ha-ha…and you'll see when we get there." Much to Bella's happiness, Rosalie gave the ghost of a smile and increased the speed just a bit. The rest of the drive was rather silent but Rosalie made no attempt to stop Bella from switching through CDs and radios to keep herself busy. Occasionally their eyes would meet and there would be a brief hesitation, only for the both of them to look away, Bella blushing as she did so. By the time they finally reached Seattle both heaved a sigh of relief, glancing at each other as they did so.

Bella had only been to Seattle a few times and she recognized a few things at first. But the more Rosalie drove, the more foreign things became to her. Streets were growing narrower and it seemed darker, even though it was only four o'clock. Perhaps she was just freaking out for no good reason. Who knew anymore? Rosalie found the parking garage she wanted and pulled in. It was rather dark and not very well kept up, but the blonde seemed pleased with her findings. Before Bella had even noticed that the car was shut off, Rosalie was at her door, pulling it open for her. Bella thanked her and Rosalie gave a single nod before they walked side by side out of the garage.

The buildings were large and gray but Bella could hear the shore nearby. And there were a lot of people walking about, which made her a bit more comfortable. When they rounded a corner, a hobo reached out for Bella's leg. Bella, being the hobo-phobic that she was, gave a screech and leapt to Rosalie's other side, looping her arm through the vampire's. The hobo had long since receded to his corner but Bella continued clutching on to her, thoroughly pleased and surprised when Rosalie's hand came over and rested on top of hers, patting it gently as they walked. Within moments Bella felt much more at ease but dared not let go Rosalie's arm, just in case.

"Is this okay?" Rosalie asked, slowing down at looking at Bella. The human looked up and read the sign in front of the store, noting that it was an antique book store. Her eyes went wide and Rosalie grinned just the tiniest bit.

"This is great!" Bella shouted, heading towards the door, pulling Rosalie along behind her. The book store was rather dusty, but also rather large and Bella could not contain the smile on her face as she darted in and out of racks. The store had quite a collection of first editions and Bella would spend quite a long time pouring through each and every one of her favorites and a few that she didn't know. Sometimes Rosalie followed her and sometimes she went off to do her own searching. But she was never far for every time Bella felt a little lonely, all she had to do was look up and Rosalie's eyes would find hers. Six o'clock rolled around too soon and Bella sighed as she saw Rosalie walking up towards her, motioning to her watch. Bella nodded and put a first edition back up on the shelf, dusting her hands.

"You're not going to get anything?" Rosalie asked, looking disappointed.

"Oh, I'd love to get something…but they're pretty expensive. But don't worry, I've had the best time just looking at them," Bella answered, hoping that it would brighten Rosalie's expression. It didn't and she frowned. "What?" Rosalie didn't answer her but instead came over and grabbed the book Bella just recently had her hands on. It was a first edition of Catcher in the Rye and Bella knew full well that it cost about one thousand dollars. She then saw Rosalie flip the book over and glance at the price and nod. Bella opened her mouth to protest but Rosalie shook her head.

"I'm buying this book for you, unless there's another one that you want. Either way I'm making a purchase."

"But—

"Bella, Carlisle has purchased an island for Esme. Jasper funds trips for himself and Alice all over the world every year. May I please buy you a novel?" Her tone was intimidating and Bella couldn't fight with her, no matter how strange it was to accept such a pricey gift. Besides, she did want the book. Bella nodded, smiling at Rosalie, who returned it and headed to the cashier. Rosalie also had another book for herself that looked to be in Italian. Filosofi in Liberta was the title and Bella nearly passed out when the clerk rang it up for it was over two thousand dollars. Rosalie merely used her American Express Black Card like it was a debit and smiled politely at the clerk as they left, holding the books.

"Thank you, Rosalie. Really, that's the best gift I could have ever gotten," Bella said as she found Rosalie's arm again. Rosalie pursed her lips together, trying not to smile, but nodded.

"I'm glad you like it."

"I do. But, this isn't going to be an every time thing, is it?"

"Of course not. I just have to make a good impression." Bella laughed and felt Rosalie's hand on top of hers again as she clutched at her arm. "Are you hungry?" Rosalie asked softly, slowing her steps as they passed a block of assorted restaurants. Bella was hungry, but she didn't want to subject Rosalie to more money (because she seemed to have a snowball's chance in hell to pay for her own meal) or the boredom of sitting at a restaurant. Luckily, she spotted just what she wanted and pointed to the hotdog vendor on the other side of the street. Rosalie shrugged and the crossed the street easily.

Just as Bella suspected, Rosalie wouldn't let her pay for her hotdog and soda, but it was only about four dollars, which made the human feel just a little bit better. They walked down the street casually with Bella eating and Rosalie holding her soda to keep it cold. When Bella finished she threw her trash away and sighed, wrapping her arm around Rosalie's waist. Rosalie hitched and they stopped walking as she looked down at Bella. At first, Bella thought that she should have been worried, but Rosalie's eyes were kind, albeit confused.

"You said you would try not to hitch," Bella said, trying to keep the whine from her voice.

"I thought we were going to take it slowly?" she asked quietly. Bella licked her lips and slowly withdrew her arms.

"I'm sorry…I thought we were."

"You thought that was taking it slow?" Rosalie gestured to her waist and Bella blushed, smiling just a bit.

"Well…I didn't think we were going to take it Edward-slow." Rosalie's eyes darkened at the mentioning of his name and Bella bit her bottom lip. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It's just that Edward was so cautious and I felt…I don't know, hindered, when I was with him. I know that you have to play it safe but I just thought…I don't know. Never mind." Bella shook her head and smiled bashfully, taking up their walk again. Rosalie said nothing but walked by her side. Just as Bella was considering how to pull her foot from her mouth, she felt something cold brush against her fingers. Bella looked down to see Rosalie's hand in hers, in the process of lacing their fingers together. She smiled down at it and looked up to Rosalie, who was staring straight ahead as if nothing was happening. Bella looked ahead too, keeping her lip in her teeth to keep from grinning so much.

"If you're still up for more, Alki Beach is just past this block," Rosalie gestured with her free hand. "Or if you're tired, we can begin the drive home." She looked down at Bella curiously and Bella zipped up her jacket as she pointed towards the beach. She thought for a moment that she felt Rosalie squeeze her hand but she couldn't be too sure as they headed down to the beach.

They walked above the beach along the seawall, hand in hand, watching as the sun fell behind the waves. Normally, both women thought beach walking was cheesy. And what they were doing was cheesy. But it felt nice to be cheesy so neither of them said anything.

"What was that you mentioned earlier about Isle Esme?" Bella asked as they walked.

"Carlisle bought and island for Esme. We like to vacation there every now and then."

"Is that your favorite place to be?"

"No, my favorite country is France. My tastes vary between Paris and the countryside."

"I've never been."

"Well, there's still time," Rosalie answered simply, causing Bella to blush.

"So, you speak French then?"

"Fluently,"

"What other languages do you speak?"

"Fluently, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian. And I can get by in several others."

"That is so impressive."

"Well, I certainly have the time." Rosalie's tone was just a bit somber that time and Bella thought that she'd asked enough questions for the time being. Sure, she wanted to know every little detail about Rosalie, but that just wasn't in the cards. It might not ever be in the cards. So she might as well make the best of her evening.

When the sun finally disappeared Rosalie stopped and turned to face the ocean. Bella looked up at her and noticed the way the breeze pushed her hair back and how her pale skin glowed in the night. It was the kind of image you didn't even see in films, because if you did, you would have called it lame. But this was Rosalie and this was perfection. Rosalie noticed her staring and looked down at her. The both them held each other's gaze for a moment before Rosalie scoffed and looked away.

"The next thing you know, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are going to come running up to each other and embrace in slow motion."

"I think you're confusing two different movies."

"So much for jokes, too. Either way, you know what I mean."

Bella laughed and nodded, swinging their joined hands back and forth. "It's a shame things like this are considered so cliché now."

"No it's not. You don't need a beach and a sunset for romance. You just need eye contact, conversation…a smile here or there…et cetera."

"Maybe a hotdog and someone to keep the soda cold?" Rosalie looked down at Bella. It looked like she was glaring but in fact she was deep in thought. Bella held her gaze and continued to swing their hands back and forth. Rosalie then swallowed, pursing her lips together for a moment.

"Yes, I suppose there's that too." Bella grinned at her and Rosalie looked down almost shyly. She wanted to tell Bella that she never wanted to smile so much. But there seemed to be no real point in that. So she settled for stepping out of her comfort zone and showing her shyness rather than hiding behind her scowl. For she didn't want to scowl at Bella anymore. She sighed and allowed her thumb to caress Bella's hand before speaking. "Well, we should probably make our way home."

Bella nodded reluctantly and they made their way back to the parking garage. The drive back home was quiet, but not as anxious as before. Bella was tired but also fairly geared up after the day that she had. She sat in the passenger seat and caressed the binding of her new first edition book lovingly. A time or two she saw Rosalie's eyes dart towards her and smile. That made the drive all the more complacent.

Even though Rosalie drove slower than before, they still made it to Bella's house all too quickly for either of their tastes, though neither would tell. Rosalie held the door open for Bella and she stepped out slowly, walking side by side with the blonde until they reached the front door. Once there, Rosalie clasped her hands together and looked to Bella nervously, hoping that she would lead this conversation. Bella had been hoping the same thing from Rosalie but decided to take the lead. Rosalie did pay, after all. "Well, thank you so much for today. It was definitely one of the best days of my life."

"Really?" Rosalie asked, surprised. Bella nodded and opened her arms, raising her brow at Rosalie. Rosalie looked at her arms for a moment and then tentatively leaned in, embracing her. They hugged for a brief moment before Rosalie pulled back rather quickly. "Well, goodnight," she said quickly. Bella didn't even get a chance to respond before Rosalie was off the porch and in the car. She watched as the vampire pulled out of the driveway and couldn't help but grin and wave as she passed, pleasantly surprised that Rosalie waved back.


	16. Chapter 16

No

"Okay, but seriously, if you don't like it we can go. It won't bother me at all."

"Bella, I'm most likely going to like it."

"Yeah, I hope so, but if you don't—

"You know, you're not making a very convincing argument for this date." Rosalie's eyes fell downward to her shorter, brunette counterpart, who blushed and nodded.

"I know…I'm just really, really nervous. I don't know how you handled this the first time," Bella answered, taking a deep breath and keeping her eyes firmly focused ahead of her. Rosalie smirked as the girl was not focused on her and shrugged.

"Well, I was nervous too. I can just hide it better."

"Fine, rub it in," Bella murmured humorously as clutched onto Rosalie's arm. Rosalie nodded in agreement as she allowed Bella to somewhat lead her down the Seattle street. Her eyes were peeled for any sort of sign as to where Bella was taking her. While she was confident that she would like whatever the girl had in mind, she couldn't help but be a bit curious. And, not to toot her own horn, but the first date seemed pretty hard to top. Still, she was hopeful and even rooting Bella on in her mind as they walked down the street.

Bella seemed to have taken a liking to Rosalie's arm and whenever they were together, she would loop her arm through it and keep them close together. Rosalie didn't mind. It was all very new to her. Sure, Emmett would take her out and treat her just as any gentleman should. But this, this meant more. Bella huffed again and Rosalie focused on her, hearing the nervous heartbeat that dwelled inside of her. She wished she could ease that worry but there was no sense in trying. All that she could do was love whatever Bella's idea was. And if she didn't love it, she would pretend. Bella seemed to be making a lot of effort for all of this and it would be cruel to have any sort of standard that might be broken.

"This dating business is hard," Bella mumbled, resting her head against Rosalie's shoulder as they walked. Rosalie spoke her agreement and Bella looked up at her. "Did you not date much?"

"Of course I did. Emmett just made the arrangements. I must say I understand why he was so nervous all of the time."

"Emmett took you out? That's so sweet," Bella almost whined. "Edward took me out once. Wow, he just took me out once." She looked up at Rosalie as if the blonde could provide some sort of clarification but Rosalie merely gave a soft grin.

"Well, we've already beaten him then, haven't we?"

Bella nodded, smiling with her bottom lip in between her teeth and Rosalie reached around to hold the hand that was grasping her arm. The rest of the walk was silent and Rosalie couldn't help but feel a bit proud of herself as she felt Bella's heartbeat easing. She heard Bella hold her breath as they walked up to the next corner and Rosalie braced herself for whatever awaited on the other side. The corner was turned and Bella's grip tightened on Rosalie's arm as she looked up to see the blonde's expression. Rosalie regarded it slowly, her brow furrowing as she read the sign over the building. Then she exhaled slowly, her lips forming into a smile as she shook her head.

"An auto show," the blonde breathed almost wistfully.

"Is it okay?" Bella asked, wincing as she did so. Rosalie looked down at her and nodded, more than relieved that she didn't have to lie.

"It's really thoughtful of you, Bella. I'm…well, dare I say I'm a bit jealous that you topped my date."

"Oh," Bella laughed, relieved. "Well, don't speak so soon, we haven't even gone in yet."

"Speaking of, what's the admission price here?" Rosalie asked, her eyes nervously casting downwards. Bella shook her head, reminding herself that Rosalie was only being considerate.

"It's free admission if you signed up early enough. Don't worry about it." Rosalie nodded, seemingly relieved and Bella steered her towards the entrance. The line was relatively short and all Bella had to do was give her name to get them in. The both of them received small gift bags and a wrist band before they were given free reign over the inside of the symposium. Bella decided to let Rosalie go and stuck with following her around as she walked around the cars on display. She still wasn't all that into cars but simply watching the joy, however subtle, on Rosalie's face was enough to make this worthwhile. And the cars were shiny and pretty and looked to go fairly fast, which also helped with her interests.

Occasionally, Rosalie would pull Bella aside and point to something that was underneath the raised hood of a show car and explain it to her. Then she would provide a critique of it of which Bella could only laugh. Leave it to Rosalie to critique some of the finest cars in the world.

"Were you into cars when you were a human?" Bella asked as they strolled down a timeline of Fords.

"No, I thought they were crude and dirty. But, I wasn't into many things when I was a girl."

"When did you get interested in cars?"

Rosalie sighed pensively, throwing her eyes to the ceiling and Bella knew that she was pinpointing down to the very second when she first became interested. They continued walking and Bella felt the cold presence of Rosalie's hand finding hers, which always made her smile. "I suppose it was when Carlisle came home with a Bentley Blower in 1935. It was retired from racing but we had the money to afford one and it was one of the the fastest models around. I remember he gave us all a test drive and then let us behind the wheel. We had several acres back then—this was in Wyoming in a very low populated area—and we drove it all around.

"There was something about the way it moved, the way I made it move. I drove it around the most and when I finally pulled up in the house I made Carlisle come out and open the hood for me. He was helpful with some of the things I wanted to know but not near enough. So I taught myself about cars." Rosalie then smiled and shook her head.

"Although, he wasn't too pleased to find that I had taken the Bentley apart." Bella laughed and agreed and they continued walking along. "You're not bored with this, are you?" Rosalie asked as they stood in front of a feature that was being advertised. "Because we can go if you'd like."

"No I would not like," Bella answered quickly, leaning into Rosalie's side. "Edward and I never went out and did this. I really like it."

Rosalie didn't respond to that and Bella looked up to see her way too focused on the man speaking on stage. Bella's eyes then found the floor and she bit her lip as she tried to think of something else to say. She didn't mean to bring up Edward but…he was all that she knew for so long. Leave it to her to make an ass of herself. There was a tug on her hand and Bella looked up to find Rosalie dragging her away from the stage.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, looking down at Bella as if nothing had happened. "I smell food coming from over here." She jerked her head to the right and Bella shook her head.

"No, I'm not hungry. But I could use the bathroom." Rosalie nodded and they walked side by side towards the lit signs. After finishing and washing her hands Bella looked at herself in the mirror. She looked at the plain ponytail and pale skin and shook her head. She didn't know what all of these vampires saw, but she was certainly glad they saw it. When Bella walked out of the restroom, she didn't notice Rosalie at first. Perhaps it was because she wasn't expecting Rosalie to be standing next to another man.

Granted, the man was standing next to her, as Rosalie was leaning on a wall, but he was leaning also. His arm was outstretched and resting on the wall behind Rosalie's head and he smiled at her, muttering words that Bella couldn't hear. A certain feeling welled up inside of Bella. It was one that she didn't like, but one that she couldn't suppress either. She knew that it was jealousy but she'd never felt it like this before. Even when girls swooned over Edward she never felt this way. But now, watching as that man smiled down at her, Bella could feel herself practically shaking with rage.

Then Rosalie's head, which had been looking at the floor, lifted. And her eyes met Bella's, and the leaning man was a thing of the past. Rosalie made no reaction to him as she lifted herself from the wall and glided over, a look of concern on her face. "What's the matter?" she asked, taking Bella's shaking hand.

"N-nothing," the brunette managed to stammer, watching as the man watched the both of them. Rosalie's eyes followed Bella's and she looked back at the man, only to grimace.

"I'm used to it, Bella. Are you angry? Sad?"

"I think the appropriate word is 'jealous,'" Bella answered weakly, her cheeks flushing. Rosalie looked back at the man and then at Bella with an almost humored expression on her face.

"You're jealous of that?"

"I…I don't know. Maybe." Bella lowered her head, ashamed for a reason that she didn't know why.

"Bella, he's nothing but a smarmy idiot. A lot of people look at me and yes, a few brave men and women will muster up the courage to talk to me. But I'm old fashioned."

Confused, Bella looked up into Rosalie's eyes, which were glaring, but out of sincerity. "I'm old fashioned and therefore I believe in fidelity." She held up their clasped hands and Bella nodded, thoroughly embarrassed but overjoyed at the same time.

"Thank you," Bella mumbled.

"You're welcome. Though, if it will make you feel better, I'll walk away rather than just endure it from now on."

"You shouldn't have to endure anything you don't want to," Bella said slowly, articulating her words.

"I'm aware of that now," Rosalie said, nodding slowly, and there was a moment of silence. Finally, Bella sighed and smiled to the blonde, waving her hand around the symposium.

"So, where to next? I really like that black car over there," she said as she pointed at it.

"I'd be happy to tell you about it," Rosalie said as they started to walk over to it. They ended up staying at the symposium until it closed. It was much longer than either of them suspected, but time seemed to fly. The way back to the parking spot Bella had found was dark and as a result Bella found herself clinging to Rosalie yet again. The blonde didn't mind and this time when Bella looped her arm around Rosalie's waist, there was no hitching to be found.

"Did you really have a good time?" Bella asked, blushing as she threw her old truck into gear. Rosalie gave an exasperated sigh and glared over in the brunette's direction.

"You realize that this is the sixth time you've asked me the same question? Keep it up and I'm going to change my mind."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was just really worried. But you seemed to have a good time."

"Because I did have a good time. Did you?"

"I did, actually. I mean, I thought that it would be okay from the beginning but I learned a lot today, thanks to you." Rosalie nodded and looked out the window and Bella smiled at her as she drove. They were almost back at the Cullen household and the sun had long since set. The drive was fairly quiet but complacent and though Bella still worried a bit, she could tell that Rosalie was happy, even if she didn't show it.

The truck pulled up to the well lit Cullen house and both women sighed as it came to a complete stop. Rosalie looked over amusedly at Bella, who blushed and looked away for a moment. When her eyes found Rosalie's again, she could see in them a familiar sight. Edward had given her that look before and she had given him that look before. And now, Bella was also giving Rosalie that look, who was returning it. It was the universal look that everyone understood. Bella licked her lips nervously as Rosalie ran her hand up and down the armrest of the truck, her eyes never leaving Bella's.

Bella leaned forward a bit and Rosalie followed suit. She could see Bella's eyes darting back and forth in worry and she was certain that hers were doing the same. Bella's heart was racing and as Rosalie placed her hand in the middle seat to balance herself, her fingers brushed against Bella's. Rosalie was so close to her now and Bella felt her nerves racing, her entire body shaking. Bella blinked once and Rosalie exhaled. They leaned forward even more and, simultaneously, they both pulled back.

"No, no, no," Rosalie said quickly, shaking her head.

"No, yes…no," Bella agreed.

"Too soon,"

"Definitely not going slowly."

"I'm sorry,"

"Me too,"

"Don't be," they said in unison. Bella blushed again and Rosalie looked her over strangely before her hand found the doorknob and pushed the door open.

"Well, I'm sure I'll see you soon," she said as she stepped out, turning around to face the brunette.

"I look forward to it," Bella answered, still embarrassed.

"Me too," Rosalie answered before she slammed the door, leaving Bella to watch her walk up and into the house. It wasn't until the door shut behind her that Bella turned the truck on and pulled it out of the driveway. She glanced in her rearview mirror as she drove away and smiled, shaking her head and knowing that somewhere in the house, Rosalie was doing the same thing.


	17. Chapter 17

Just Right

"I never took you for a hiker," Rosalie commented as she followed Bella up a small trail. Bella looked back at her but didn't respond as she sidestepped a stone. Rosalie reached out to keep a branch from hitting her face and looked over the human as she turned around and waited for her. Sweat was beginning to show on the very edges of her brow but she wasn't out of breath. Rosalie didn't think that Bella was out of shape, but she was still a bit impressed. Bella smiled at her as Rosalie rounded the rock and then looked out over the terrain.

They'd made it to the top of an impressive hill that overlooked the ocean. A fine mist was spraying over the area and coated Bella's cheeks. The wind brushed against her and cooled the perspiration and condensation that had formed. She lifted her hair and allowed the wind to blow at the back of her neck for a moment before she looked to Rosalie.

"May I have some water please?" she asked, motioning to the backpack that Rosalie held limply in her hand. The vampire nodded and pulled the bottle from the backpack, tossing it over to her. Bella took a few good swigs and sighed as she screwed the cap back on, handing it back to Rosalie. "Thank you. I can carry that, you know," she said as she gestured to the backpack.

"I'm sure you can," Rosalie answered simply, putting the water back in the backpack. Bella rolled her eyes playfully and let the wind chill her again.

"To answer your previous comment, I'm not much of a hiker. I'm not much of a…do-er in general. I used to hate the heat of Arizona and when I first came here I hated this weather. But it's sort of grown on me now."

"Do you know why?"

"I think it was because of Edward. I mean, I was constantly with him and we were usually inside. After awhile I started feeling…I don't know, cramped or something. I just wanted to see what it was like up here." Bella smiled and crouched down, rubbing her shins as she looked out over the ocean. "Though, if this aching keeps up I won't be hiking for much longer." She laughed airily and looked up as Rosalie came over to her and sat down next to her. She extended her hand and gestured towards Bella's legs.

"May I?"

Bella blinked for a few moments before she understood what Rosalie wanted. Nodding, she extended her right leg and watched as Rosalie took it and rolled the pant leg up to the knee. She ran her hand down Bella's shin, blinking once as goosebumps arose. Then she placed two of her fingers gently on the muscle and began to massage it. Bella sighed as she felt the stinging relief enter her leg and let her head fall back.

"Is there anything you can't do?" she asked, bringing her head back up to look at the blonde. Rosalie didn't look up, as she was very focused on Bella's leg, but Bella did notice her take a deep breath.

"There are a lot of things I can't do," she answered quietly, pushing down just a bit harder on a sensitive spot. Bella bit her bottom lip, wondering if she should ask her to elaborate or not. She looked the blonde over and deducted that while she was focused on her task, she didn't seem particularly angry or morose. It couldn't hurt to try. Rosalie wouldn't lose her temper. They were too far away from civilization for that to happen. And a lot had changed in a very short time.

"Like what?"

Rosalie continued to keep her head down and she reached over and grabbed Bella's other leg, setting it in her lap and beginning her ministrations on it. "Let's just leave it at that," she said politely. Bella groaned a bit and Rosalie finally looked up at her, raising a brow.

"Why? I want to know."

"Well, you can't always get what you want."

"Rosalie…"

"Bella…"

Bella huffed, pulling her legs from Rosalie's hands. Rosalie looked up at her and watched as Bella curled her knees to her chest and crossed her arms. "You never let me in," she said. "I'm always left on the outside."

"You can't be serious. I've let you in so much."

"Yeah, but not enough. At least, not enough for my tastes. We're a couple, Rosalie. We should be able to talk about things and be open with each other."

"We've gone on two dates, Bella. Three if you count this hike we're on. We've barely hugged let alone anything more. I'm sorry if you expected me to just change my entire character. But it's just something I cannot do."

"Yeah, well, I was expecting you to try." Bella glared over at Rosalie, watching with some surprise to find that the blonde didn't return it. She looked rather surprised instead of angry. Her brow creased not in a glare, but in a frown and she turned to face the ocean.

"I am trying," she said simply, her voice just barely audible. "You know I'm trying."

Bella swallowed, hanging her head. Rosalie was right. She knew that she was right. She was just…hoping for something more. But nothing was ever a quick fix with Rosalie. She remembered Edward then, at that moment. She remembered how quickly she'd grown attached to him and how much he told her in such a short time. And of course she'd told him everything. Edward was a good listener. Rosalie was too, and Bella told her everything too. It didn't seem so ludicrous to expect something in return.

"I'm sorry," Bella said finally, just a bit of irritation left in her voice. "It's just that Edward and I—

"Christ, Bella, I am not Edward! Can't you see that by now?" Rosalie shouted, throwing her hands in the air and looking back at the human. Bella jumped back a bit in shock and Rosalie glared at her, shaking her head. She mumbled something that Bella couldn't hear and then turned back to face the ocean.

Bella brought her arms up to wrap them around her chest. She didn't know what to say. Edward had been her life for so long. He was all she knew anymore. And she wanted to get to know Rosalie, but Rosalie was making that part rather difficult. Rosalie sighed heavily and Bella pursed her lips together. She extended her legs and shuffled over to Rosalie's side. The vampire made no reaction to her presence and continued to stare out at the waves. Bella put her arm around her shoulders and rested her head on them.

"I know that you're not Edward," she said softly, taking a deep breath. "And I'm so, so glad that you aren't."

Rosalie scoffed a bit. "You could have fooled me."

"He was my first love, Rosalie. And all of this is happening so quickly, despite our slow pace. I just…I don't know how to…do anything without him."

"You could start by not mentioning him so much, if at all," Rosalie said, looking over at her for the first time. Bella nodded and as she did so she felt Rosalie's arm sneak around her back and pull her closer.

"Yes, yes I could. And I'll try."

"Try," Rosalie repeated with an air of laughter in her voice. "That word has been giving us more trouble than it's worth."

Bella smiled and shook her head against Rosalie's shoulder. "I disagree. I think it's worth it." She lifted her head and watched as Rosalie turned her head so that they were facing. She was so beautiful, even with the crease in her brow that was almost always prevalent. Bella smiled at her and reached up with her left hand, bringing it to rest on Rosalie's cheek. It was so smooth and so cold. It surprised Bella every time she touched her and Bella had to admit that she liked that a little bit. Rosalie brought her hand up and placed it against Bella's, her lips parting just a bit.

Rosalie's eyes were a vibrant gold and they almost lit up in overcast day. And they stared deeply into Bella's eyes. They always did that. And while Bella sometimes didn't understand what it meant, she always liked it just the same. Because then she knew that Rosalie was focused on her and only her. As stupid as it sounded even to the human, it made her feel important. And Bella had to admit that in the past few years she hadn't been feeling much of that. Yes, Edward constantly worried and doted over her, but it only made her feel like a hassle. With Rosalie…with Rosalie she was still a hassle, but one that Bella could tell Rosalie wanted around.

And that made Bella feel…good.

Rosalie blinked slowly and Bella gently tugged on her face, pulling it closer. There were no nerves this time and regardless, Bella knew that she wouldn't be pulling away. The look in Rosalie's eyes told the human that Rosalie wouldn't pull away either.

Their lips met and Bella would have breathed a sigh of relief were she not so preoccupied at the moment. It was better than anything she could have dreamed and so surprisingly, yet refreshingly different from Edward's kisses. Rosalie was tentative, her lips quivering against Bella's and moving oh so slowly. Bella didn't mind for the moment and she smiled a bit, opening her eyes briefly to find that the crease in Rosalie's brow was gone for the moment. She smiled against Rosalie's mouth and closed her eyes again only to feel Rosalie pull away. At first Bella thought that she had done something wrong, but the rather content expression on Rosalie's face told her the opposite.

"Slow," she said quietly, her voice falling a bit in disappointment. She opened her eyes then and Bella noticed that they had darkened. She nodded and sought out Rosalie's hand.

"Not slow," she said, bringing Rosalie's hand up to kiss her palm. "Just right."

Rosalie just smiled.


	18. Chapter 18

Reading

The movie that was playing looked like some sort of crime drama. Or perhaps it was a thriller. Bella didn't know because she hadn't really been paying attention. Sometime after the opening credits Bella had found Rosalie's hand. And nothing seemed to be more important than tracing the contours of it. Though Rosalie was staring ahead at the TV, Bella was willing to bet that she wasn't paying much attention to the movie either.

They were at Bella's house, reclining on her couch. Charlie was obviously at work and though the visit was unexpected, Bella could hardly even pretend to be less than enthused when Rosalie knocked on her door. Her face was stoic but Bella could see the lightness in her eyes and gladly allowed the vampire into her home. Not without the usual fair of vampire jokes first, which Rosalie pretended to be unimpressed with. It wasn't until after some light conversation that Bella suggested a movie in hopes of tuning down the nervousness that always seemed to be lingering in their first few moments of meeting.

Rosalie would simply not pick out a film and to prove her bolshie behavior could not be swayed, she merely sat on the couch, simultaneously crossing her legs arms. She then cast her eyes downward at Bella, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a pile of movies on her lap. Bella glared at her but couldn't keep the act up and ended up laughing, picking up a movie at random. When the movie was put in Bella sauntered back over to Rosalie and sat down next to her, leaning into her side. At first she thought that she'd made a mistake, as Rosalie seemed to stiffen. But soon the vampire relaxed and merely pulled the blanket off of the back of the couch, handing it to Bella. It wasn't until Bella agreed to wear the blanket that Rosalie allowed her to rest on her, but Bella found that she didn't care after a few minutes.

Because Bella didn't like crime dramas or thrillers or whatever this film was. And as a result the human had taken more of an interest in Rosalie's hand. She traced her fingers over Rosalie's and compared their complexions and even slapped their palms together, listening to the strange sound that became of it. Rosalie still appeared to be watching the movie though occasionally she would look down curiously at what had taken Bella's attention so greatly. Bella gently toyed with Rosalie's fingers, rolling them back and forth before she turned her hand over, running her fingertips over the faint lines in Rosalie's palm.

"Can you read palms?" she asked innocently, continuing to trace. Rosalie looked down at her and picked up the remote, muting the movie that neither of them were watching.

"Of course not."

"Oh,"

"Did you think that I could?"

"Well, you can do everything else. Palm reading didn't seem so farfetched." Rosalie gave an amused sigh and Bella grinned, placing her hand next to the vampire's and comparing their lines. Rosalie watched her for a minute and then shook her head, turning back to the TV. Bella huffed and glanced at her palms again.

"I wish I knew what my lines said."

"You know that palm reading is not a real science, don't you?" Rosalie asked, looking down at the human.

"You're just cynical."

"I am not. It's largely considered a pseudoscience. I just happen to agree."

"Why?"

"It's no different from astrology. Don't tell me you read your horoscope?"

"…I might. What's it to you?"

Rosalie shook her head, a look of total and complete disappointment on her face. Bella grinned at her and snuggled closer into her side. They were quiet for a few moments as Bella continued to look at their palms, occasionally tracing the lines on Rosalie's. The vampire watched her do so and then sighed in defeat, relinquishing her posture to slide down on the couch to where she was more level with Bella's head. She then took Bella's hand and traced a line that swooped down and across.

"This line says that you have a tendency to put yourself in precarious situations," she said simply, listening as Bella laughed. She then traced a similar line and sighed. "And I'm afraid that this one means you like to be around the dead. Very unbecoming, Bella. And see where it swoops here? That means that you're a klutz. It looks like your hands know you fairly well."

"They should," Bella laughed, taking her hands from Rosalie and then opening Rosalie's palm. She traced a V shape on Rosalie's hand and hummed thoughtfully. "I think that this means you're wonderfully reserved." Rosalie nodded slowly in agreement and Bella traced another line. "This means that you're incredibly sweet, but this line that intersects with it tells me that I should keep that information to myself."

"Good idea," Rosalie answered, closing her hand and catching Bella's in it. "Because I've been known to be scary when the time calls for it." There was a certain tone to her voice that Bella understood and she smiled at the vampire in hopes of brightening her spirits. She lifted Rosalie's hand and kissed it, holding it in front of Rosalie.

"Thanks for doing that," Bella said, gesturing to their hands. Rosalie scoffed a bit but nodded.

"You're welcome."

"No, really, it means a lot," Bella ensured, resting her head on Rosalie's shoulder. Rosalie made no response to that and Bella closed her eyes, feeling the form next to her and letting her thoughts escape without any conscience. "I've felt like a nuisance for long. It's nice to have someone who doesn't constantly refer to the factors that make this relationship so strained. It's nice to have someone humor me." Again Rosalie made no real response and Bella sighed, her thoughts drifting to Edward. He always seemed to have something to say. And while it wasn't the right thing all of the time, it was certainly comforting to know that he was listening.

"Edward," she sighed, shaking her head as she tried to deprive her thoughts of him. Rosalie's hand tightened just a bit on Bella's hand before she let it go. Bella looked up at her and found that Rosalie was standing, straightening her shirt as she did so. When she finished adjusting she turned around and looked to Bella.

"I think it's time I left…gave you some time to yourself," she said simply. She gave a weak smile and a single nod and rounded the couch as Bella sat up, turning around just in time to see Rosalie opening the door.

"Rosalie," she pleaded softly, trying to think of something to say that would make her stay. But she didn't seem to have an adequate excuse. Rosalie stopped and let her head fall, her hand lingering on the doorknob. Then she stood straight and tall like she always did and stepped over to the couch. Bella felt her cold hand on the side of her face and the impression of Rosalie's lips against her temple before she pulled away.

"Goodbye, Bella," she said casually before she headed out the door, closing it behind her.


	19. Chapter 19

Divine Intervention

Bella couldn't remember how many times she had allowed herself to sob on this bed of hers with the hideous purple sheets. But it was definitely too many times to count. A tissue was hanging limply from her hand and she was rather impressed with herself that she hadn't tired it out yet. She had been crying, yes, for when didn't Bella cry over something? But more than crying she had been angry. Angry at Rosalie for leaving so cryptically and angry at herself for bringing up Edward again. She liked to think that she really had an excuse, but she didn't. Not an excuse that she knew of anyway. Bella sighed, crumpling the tissue angrily in her palm and chucking it towards her wastebasket, missing completely. It fell behind the bin and she glared at it, knowing that she would forget it was there.

But she didn't care. She didn't want to get up and throw the tissue away. She didn't want to check the window for the millionth time to ensure that it was unlocked. And she most certainly didn't want to pick up her phone and check for a text message or call. If she'd received one she knew she wouldn't have missed it anyway. Not only was the vibrate on and volume all the way up, but she'd made sure that she could see her phone in her peripheral to be able to see the very first sign of the phone's activity. Rolling her eyes at herself, Bella turned on her side and stared down at her neutral colored carpet.

Maybe she needed an intervention.

"You know, Bella, most girls don't have the greatest friend in the world. In fact, you're the only one that has the greatest friend in the world. And yet sometimes I just feel so used."

Bella turned her head, the sound of Alice's voice automatically bringing a smile to her face no matter how much she wasn't in the mood for using those muscles. Alice was standing next to her bed, the window she'd come through closed and locked behind her. Bella sat up pitifully, letting her hair fall in front of her face and pressed forward, leaning her head against Alice's stomach.

"So, you're pissed at me too?"

"I didn't say that," Alice answered, picking up Bella's hair and braiding it lightly. "I said that I felt used. There's a difference. However, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take that comment back, as there's already way too much melancholy here and at home."

Bella sat up then, feeling Alice's fingers graze tenderly across her skull, dropping her hair. "Rosalie's…melancholy too?"

"Don't act so surprised. And Rosalie may not be as…expressive as you are in her emotions but I can feel sadness radiating from her. I know because Jasper's been bearing the brunt of it and has successfully turned the household sour…with the exception of myself." Alice then grinned broadly, touching Bella's cheek as she did so.

Bella turned her head away, grimacing as she heard Alice sigh. The mattress gave slightly to the pixie's weight as she sat down next to her friend. "Bella, if I may be blunt and slightly crude, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Bella turned and glared at Alice, though there was no malice behind her eyes. She knew that she was right, but admitting things was never easy. Alice shook her head, her brow creasing as she looked intently at Bella. "It's pretty much common sense that you don't mention past relationships with your new one. Then again, it's also common sense not to follow a bad vampire to an empty ballet studio by yourself. Perhaps I should have seen this coming…" Alice drifted then, looking away as she pondered her new notion.

Bella huffed loudly, bringing Alice out of her pensiveness, and flung herself to the other side of the bed. "I get it, Alice! Poor little Bella is stupid! Now if that's all you've got to say you can just leave." Her last words came out choked and Alice silently rose from the bed. She headed over to the dresser and pulled out a tissue from its box, then walked slowly over to Bella's side and offered it to her. She sniffed twice, but eventually took it from Alice's hands and blew her nose. Alice nodded and instructed Bella to sit up with a quick wave of her hand. Bella did as she was told and continued wiping her nose as Alice sat down beside her again.

"No one thinks you're stupid, Bella. But you are acting stupid. What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"What is all of this Edward business?"

"I…I don't know, Alice. He's all I know. And Rosalie's so great but Edward was so great and yet they're both so different. It's…it's a lot to wrap my head around."

"And you think that Rosalie is the one to tell this to?"

"Shouldn't I be able to tell her everything?"

Alice sighed, looking straight ahead for a moment. Then she shrugged and looked over at the human. "Yes, you should. And you can, because clearly you have been. And she has yet to kill you. But these things have to be handled…you know, I shouldn't have to tell you this." Alice glared down at Bella and she pursed her lips together.

"I really shouldn't have to tell you this, Bella. You're a smart girl with common sense…somewhere. Surely you know what you're doing."

"…I do,"

"Well, then, please explain to me what your intentions are, Bella. Because so far all that you've done is hurt people." Alice was glaring at her and while Bella felt the need to be angry at her, she couldn't come with it. Nothing that Alice had said was out of line or false. Bella took her bottom lip in her teeth and shook her head, leaning over to rest it on Alice's shoulder. Alice allowed her to and allowed them both to sit there for a minute.

If Alice's ear hadn't been superhuman, and if she hadn't been waiting for it, having seen the vision, she wouldn't have heard it. But she did hear it and she couldn't help the smile that grew on her tiny little face as Bella uttered it.

"I'm scared, Alice," she said, reaching around to hug the pixie. Alice returned it and kissed the top of her head.

"Why?"

"Because of…because of Edward. All that happened between us, the ups and downs and tears and fears and…and I look back on it now and I realize that the bad far outweighed the good. And I don't want Rosalie and I to end up in the same boat. I just…I don't want her to leave me and I don't want my awestricken self to hide behind what's really going on. But Edward always helped me. He always told me what to do and how to do it and it was all in my best interest. Rosalie doesn't do that…and it scares me."

Alice smiled again and shook her head, lifting Bella's so that she could look into her eyes. "So, you're scared because Rosalie has given you your identity back?"

"Huh?"

"Bella, don't you see how grand this is? Rosalie has given yourself back to you!" Alice threw her hands in the air with dramatic flair and Bella frowned, not understanding her words.

"Rosalie isn't telling you what to do and now you have to think for yourself! Isn't it marvelous? How does it feel?"

"I don't understand what you're saying, Alice. I can think for myself."

"Yes, but have you? Were you, when you were with Edward?"

"Of course but—

"Whose idea was the wedding?"

"Edward's but he said—

"Didn't I agree to change you at one point?"

"But I wanted Ed—

"And didn't Edward coming running in then, ruining our private conversation?"

"Alice! Are you going to let me speak or not?" Bella shouted, standing from the bed and flinging her arms out in anger. Much to Bella's surprise, however, Alice's smile only grew. She bounced on the bed a few times and then clapped her hands, jumping up to embrace Bella.

"I was wondering if you were going to stop me. I was wondering if you were going to speak up for yourself and you did! You did! Oh, this is the Bella that I remember." Alice hugged her again and even went so far as to swing her around the room once. "You know, I thought you were coming back with Rosalie around. I could see it. I could see you pushing and standing up for yourself and just…kicking ass! And then when you went to Rosalie's side that day my room. Oh, Bella, it's been so long."

"You really have a flair for the dramatics," Bella answered simply, though she did hug Alice back.

Alice shrugged and let her go, the grin seemingly permanent on her face. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Forgive me if I seem too happy."

Bella shrugged it off but then her face grew serious. "Was I really that bad, Alice?"

"I thought so. No one else seemed to notice or care, save for Rosalie."

"Rosalie saw it?"

"Of course she saw it! She sees everything about you, Bella. It used to bother her but now…now it seems like it was kind of meant to be this way."

Bella smiled then and played with her hands before shoving them into her jean pockets. "So…how is Rosalie?"

"Safe to say that she's a bit devastated. I haven't spoken to her, because that's your job, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Wanna give me a lift to your house?"

"Certainly…but, Bella?"

"Yeah?" Bella looked up to see Alice looking intently at her. It was more serious than she had ever seen Alice before, and it almost frightened her. Alice stepped forward and took Bella's hand in her own and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Bella, you know I'll always be here for you. But I can't keep intervening between you and your problems. You've got to start fending for yourself a little bit. Lord knows Rosalie will be protective of you, but if there's something that needs to be done or said, it's up to you to do it now. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am. No more divine interventions from Alice. Is it weird to say that I'm kind of excited about all of this?"

"Are you kidding? I'm positively ecstatic!" Alice grinned and then led the way out of the house, where her car was waiting.

0-0-0-0-0

Rosalie had tried her hardest not to hear. She had tried her hardest to ignore the perfect sounds of Alice's finely tuned Porsche coming up the drive. And she had tried even harder to ignore the sounds of that prevalent heartbeat that followed the pixie into the house.

Alice had neglected to tell Rosalie of where she was going, but she didn't have to. Rosalie knew all along of where that pixie was going. However, she did not know what Alice was going to tell her, or what Bella was going to say. In a way, Rosalie hated that Alice went over there. Alice was so persuasive and could see things that others couldn't. And that was helpful…most of the time. But sometimes, her visions were wrong. Sometimes her advice was wrong.

That was why Rosalie had instructed Alice not to visit Bella after Edward's leaving. She didn't want Bella's thoughts swayed by anyone. She wanted the human to make her own decision for once. Rosalie grimaced at herself then. Waiting a month probably wasn't long enough. She just wished that she had had more will power to stay away from her. But she didn't. And neither did Alice. For now Bella was hear and Rosalie could hear the sounds of the heart coming up the stairs.

The heartbeat was racing as it came up the stairs and Rosalie closed her eyes, placing her hand to her chest and tapping in rhythm with it. It seemed so pained, so terrible to have that thing thriving wildly inside of someone. And yet she continued to tap her chest until she heard the sound of the door opening.

Unannounced, Bella opened the door, immediately taking her bottom lip in her teeth as she did so. She peered into the room and Rosalie opened her eyes, turning around slowly to face her. Regardless of what went on here today, she would not lose her temper. She would not break down. She would not do anything to cause Bella anymore pain. And if that meant not being in her presence ever again, she was willing to do it.

Because Rosalie knew full well that Bella could be ending here, with her now. She knew that this speech Bella was about to give could very well contain very many 'Edward's' and in the end settle on Edward. Or it could settle on simple friendship. Rosalie didn't know which one was worse at the moment, yet she still managed to invite Bella into the room with a wave of her hand.

Bella entered slowly and Rosalie closed her eyes as the scent came in and wafted through her scents like it had so many times before. She took one deep breath and determined that she was fine before she opened her eyes again and set them down on Bella's own. Bella gave a strange sort of half smile and then played with her hands. Rosalie thought about saying something, but then reconsidered and instead gestured for Bella to sit. She looked in the direction of Rosalie's hand and nodded quickly, taking a seat on the bed bench that she loved so much. Rosalie sat down at her vanity and stood straight and tall, waiting for the human to begin the conversation.

"H-how are you, Rosalie?" Bella asked softly, her voice quaking. Despite her best efforts, Rosalie couldn't help but give a simple smile in return.

"Is that a trick question?"

"No… but I suppose it's not a very good one either." Bella laughed then and Rosalie pushed down the feeling of hope in her gut, just in case she was wrong. Bella bit her lip again and ran a hand through her hair. Then she took a deep breath and leaned forward on the bed bench.

"Rosalie…I just want to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all that I've put you through. It was wrong of me." Bella stopped and tried to gather her words again, only to stop. Rosalie had closed her eyes and was now clasping and unclasping her hands together in a strange motion. Her breathing had become heavy, intense, and just when Bella was about to ask if she was okay, Rosalie opened her eyes.

"I understand," she said slowly, watching as Bella recoiled just a bit to listen to what she had to say. Rosalie licked her lips once and reminded herself over and over again that this was Bella's choice. It was understandable that she was leaving her. All of the Edward mentioning and the overall unease in her presence…of course she would want to go back to him. It made perfect sense to the blonde. Yet it still wasn't easy to take.

"I understand, and I'm happy for you. Edward…Edward loves you very much. And I'm sorry to have taken you away from him." Rosalie looked away then, pursing her lips together and shook her head softly. She wished more than anything that Bella would leave, leave her be. But Bella never did what she wanted and damn it if she didn't love that about her.

Bella stayed sitting on the bed bench and Rosalie could feel her eyes burning holes into her cheek as they strained to make contact. But it was simply too difficult for the vampire right now. "Rosalie?" Bella called, her voice tentative. The musings of a siren crept into Rosalie's mind for a moment as she listened to the sound of Bella's voice and yet she still couldn't look. It seemed to hurt too much.

"Rosalie?" she called again and Rosalie reached out to grip the side of the vanity. She really hated torment…really hated it. But worse than that she hated breaking down in the presence of another person, this person especially. She was Rosalie Lillian Hale. And she would not break down in front of Bella. Doing so might cause Bella to change her mind. And Rosalie didn't want her pity.

"Rose…" Bella said, her tone firmer. Rosalie clenched her jaw tightly and let out a small sigh of frustration as she turned and looked at the human.

Bella hadn't moved from her seat on the bench but now that Rosalie was looking at her, she slowly got up and made her way over. For the briefest of moments, with Bella standing, she towered Rosalie, and the feelings that brought for the both of them were strange indeed. Luckily, Bella crouched quickly and they were eye level yet again. Bella looked deeply into Rosalie's eyes and couldn't help but smile, which only caused the blonde to glare.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this, Rose," Bella said, her smile growing wider. "But you're wrong."

Bella watched then as Rosalie's face relaxed for a moment, and then pulled back in shock. Bella nodded and then leaned forward, making up for the distance that Rosalie created. "I'm an idiot, Rose. You know this, I know this. Everyone knows this. I…I had the gall to compare you to Edward. But you're so much better. And now even I can't' stand to bring up his name anymore. I don't want him anymore. I'm not sure if I ever did. But I do want you…if you're willing to have me."

Rosalie swallowed hard and looked deeply into Bella's eyes. She listened to her breathing and her heartbeat and tried to determine their validity. Bella was being truthful. Bella…wanted her. Suddenly Bella's eyes grew wide with excitement. At first this only confused Rosalie, until she realized that she was smiling.


	20. Chapter 20

Resurrection

Rosalie never would have thought that she would dread driving to Bella's house. In fact, driving to Bella's house was normally a very relaxing experience. Sure, it normally made her just a bit anxious, seeing as how killing Bella was still a relatively concrete idea. And then of course there was the fact that she liked Bella. She liked Bella a lot. And that was enough to make any vampire anxious, given any and all past experiences.

But Rosalie could handle all of that. In fact, that was minutia compared to what dwelled within her now. Feasting on Bella's blood seemed a much easier task. Rosalie shook her head at that, tearing her eyes from the road as she did so. It wouldn't matter. She wouldn't hit anything. What she also wouldn't do was think about Bella's blood. In reality this could be something as simple being allergic to a loved one's cat.

Except for this was no damn cat.

The car found its way into Bella's driveway and Rosalie sighed as she shut the engine off, hearing the tiny creak of Bella's screen door opening. She didn't bother looking up as she undid her seatbelt and climbed out of the car, opening her arms as Bella would almost always fall into them. However, this time, she didn't and her absence finally caused the blonde to look up. Bella was standing a foot away, one of her eyebrows lifted and her arms crossed.

"What?" Rosalie asked, perhaps a bit too quickly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Lies,"

"Truth,"

"You know, I always thought you were kind of a good liar, but after spending all of this time together, you're actually really bad at it," Bella laughed, uncrossing her arms even though she was still unrelenting. Rosalie glared at her but it seemed to have little effect on Bella. She wasn't sure if she liked that or not.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me," Bella continued, shrugging innocently, "but don't tell me there's nothing wrong."

Rosalie took a deep breath and regarded the human. She really could be so damn cute sometimes and so…no, never mind. Rosalie shook her head but also let her shoulders fall. "Fine then, I'm not as…complacent as usual, but I don't want to tell you."

"Aw, please?" Bella whined, taking a step forward this time as Rosalie fought back her smirk.

"You just said I didn't have to tell you."

"I didn't think you'd take me up on it."

"Well, then you shouldn't have said it."

"Fail," Bella mumbled, letting her head hang. Rosalie glared at that and Bella raised her eyebrows in question.

"Don't say contemporary colloquialisms, please. It makes you seem—

"What? Normal?" Bella interrupted, her brow furrowing. Rosalie didn't know how to respond to that and so she didn't. Bella watched her for a bit more and then sighed, shaking her head and stepping into Rosalie's arms, which were still expecting her.

"Don't hold me in a higher regard than I am…" she murmured into the blonde's chest.

Rosalie nodded even though Bella didn't see her and they stood in silence for a moment. Bella didn't say his name, and Rosalie was grateful for that. But she knew who Bella was referring to with that whining tone of voice that she did. And Rosalie couldn't argue with her. She had told Bella what to do, like she was an ignorant child. The thought made her insides wither even more and she dared herself to hug Bella just a bit more tightly. When they finally released Bella took Rosalie's hand and pulled her into the house.

"I was hoping to eat before you got here, but I kind of got lost in a book, so I'm sorry for the smell," she said as she opened the screen door. Rosalie had thought that she had smelled something resembling baked cheese as she stood out on the lawn but as the door swung open now she was hit with the full force of what smelled like microwavable macaroni in cheese. Normally, Rosalie preferred the smell of Bella over anything else but sometimes the smell of food was a good deterrent should Rosalie feel a bit more thirsty than normal.

"What book did you get lost in this time?" Rosalie asked as she watched Bella retreat into the kitchen and come back with a tiny bowl of macaroni.

Bella blushed and no amount of Velveeta could have had hidden that scent. "Catcher in the Rye,"

"Nice to know I'm getting my money's worth out of it."

Bella blushed again and gestured for Rosalie to sit on the couch. Rosalie did so and watched as Bella turned on the TV, where a DVD was on the startup menu. Watching movies seemed to be something they both rather enjoyed and so as of late it became almost all that they did. Rosalie had wanted to take Bella out some more, but she could sense Bella's discomfort at having her pay for everything, so this seemed like a better alternative. And Bella seemed happy. Rosalie could tell by the smirk on her face as she sat down and cuddled into Rosalie's side.

"Is the food too much?" Bella asked, holding her bowl an arm's length away, as if that did anything. But it was a nice gesture.

"No, it's fine. Please eat, nestled right into my side as you are."

Bella looked up and flashed Rosalie a genuine smile and Rosalie found herself to be just a bit scared at how easily she was able to return it. Her arm wrapped around Bella's shoulders and she caressed Bella's arm lightly with her fingers, trying to comprehend the strange aching in her void chest. Rather, trying not to comprehend it. Bella seemed oblivious to Rosalie's unease and Rosalie was thankful for that, finally turning her head to focus on the movie for the first time.

"Alien Resurrection…" she commented, amazed that she could still be surprised by the human in her arms.

"It's my favorite of the quadrilogy…aside from the third."

"The third was terrible, Bella. 'Quadrilogy' isn't a word."

"Yes it is too! If you're an Alien fan!" Bella huffed excitedly, setting the empty bowl on the table and getting up to dig through the DVDs. When she found what she was looking for she smiled and headed back over to the vampire with her arm extended. Rosalie took the box from her arms and noted that Bella, or Charlie, had the collector's edition 'quadrilogy' of the Alien series.

"Hmm…my mistake," she said quickly in hopes to hide her frustration, "but I'm still considering it a nonce word."

"You do that," Bella answered proudly before taking her bowl to the kitchen and running upstairs for a moment. Rosalie heard the sounds of water running and deducted that Bella was most likely washing her hands and brushing her teeth. Generally, that meant that she didn't really want to watch the movie but wanted to engage in other frivolous activities while the movie was going on. Rosalie could hardly say that she minded normally, but today was a rather different occasion. Normally, there wasn't something pressing against her chest, longing to get out. Rosalie glanced at the Alien movie and grimaced at the irony.

Bella could be heard coming down the steps now and Rosalie sighed. Perhaps this would take her mind off of other matters. Maybe she should start taking Bella's advice and see things on the bright side. The devil in mention appeared around the couch and sat down again, nestling into Rosalie's side, which seemed to fit her perfectly.

"Sigourney totally wants Winona," Bella said after a moment. "And vice versa,"

"So it would seem," Rosalie said with a thoughtful nod.

"But Sigourney's so old! And her character, Ripley, is over two hundred years old!" Bella laughed, burying her head into Rosalie's chest to laugh out of awkwardness.

"Ahem," Rosalie said rather obviously. Bella's head popped up and they looked at each other for a moment before her eyes widened.

"Oh…oh that was a stupid comment. I'm, um, sorry, Rosalie…and Sigourney/Ripley…and Winona too."

"Apology accepted. And I speak on behalf of the crew of the Auriga and Betty, too."

"You know, I find nerds to be really sexy."

"Are you implying that I'm a nerd?" Rosalie's eyes hardened as she watched Bella fight back a smirk.

"I'm implying that you're sexy," Bella laughed before leaning up to kiss Rosalie. The vampire welcomed this interaction and couldn't help but feel a bit smug that Bella had brushed her teeth as she'd predicted and called her sexy. They kissed for just a bit more until Rosalie felt it necessary to pull away, simply so Bella could breathe. As she pulled away, she felt Bella exhale, all too familiar words falling from her lips.

Rosalie jumped back then, regarding Bella heavily. The human looked nervous, but confident in her word choice and she smiled hopefully at Rosalie. "You don't have to feel the same yet…but I do," she said quietly. "I love you."

Rosalie closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and feeling the aching in her chest subside for a moment, only to come back with full force. What she wanted to say danced on the tip of her tongue, begging to be released. She opened her mouth and suddenly it was a cold night in Rochester.

Royce had her pressed against the dirty brick wall and her cheek was bleeding from the rough texture of it. He was muttering and sputtering obscenities to her the entire time, but as he finished, he placed his lips to her ear, and told her just how much she loved her. And in the midst of the cold night and the pain and the betrayal, Rosalie found herself telling him that she loved him back, before he dropped her to the ground.

"R-Rosalie?" Bella offered, inching closer. "Are you okay?"

Rosalie's eyes shot open then, and she didn't even realize they had been closed. She looked at the house located in the summertime in Washington and Bella who was not Royce and took a deep breath. The words that danced on her tongue were now replaced with fear.

"Are you sure?"

"What?"

"Are you sure that you love me? I mean, that's a really big thing to say, and you're so young."

"You were too once, Rosalie."

"I…Bella, we have nothing in common. Not even a common ground to start on." She was fishing now, and she knew it. But she just couldn't bring herself to say it. Bella watched her for a moment and then smiled, inching closer.

"What about Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

"The movie?"

"Yes, did you like it?"

"Yes, I did."

"I did too. Well, that's one thing we've got."

Rosalie was thoroughly confused for a moment before a familiar tune rang through her mind. Then her eyes narrowed playfully. "Isn't that a song?"

"Now you're catching on. It's okay, Rosalie. You don't have to feel that way yet…or ever. But this is how I feel, and I hope you'll accept it."

"I do accept it. And I want to say it. I just…I just need—

"Time. I know," Bella smiled, inching closer to her vampire. Rosalie smiled, a bit overwhelmed that Bella was being so understanding about all of this, and reached over to embrace her.

"Thank you," she said softly into the human's ear.

"Always,"


	21. Chapter 21

Character Study

"Rosalie?"

Her voice was mousy, shy. She hated it. She hated it because she knew that whatever followed her opening interrogative would result in something negative. It would also end up being Rosalie's fault, whatever 'it' was. Not that Rosalie wasn't willing to take the fall for something she did wrong, she just might not be happy about it. Bella had a way of pointing out her faults, intentionally or not, and Rosalie was not one to be faulted often. She supposed that was something she'd just have to get used to. Not that she minded all that much since Bella was involved.

"Yes?" she asked, turning around and facing the brunette.

Bella had fallen behind and was staring downward at the sand, watching as she buried her toes under it, only to have the waves carry it away. It was a windy, rainy day and they had decided to take a trip to Seattle again. Much to Rosalie's surprise, Bella had allowed her to take her out for more than a hotdog for lunch and they spent hours browsing the antique bookstore and a few other shops, though nothing piqued their fancy this time.

Rosalie couldn't deny that Bella looked beautiful, standing there in that strained reserve, with the wind blowing against her reddened cheeks. Bella's cheeks were also glistening with rain. At least, Rosalie prayed that it was rain. In three long strides Rosalie was next to Bella's side again and she laid their shoes on the ground, bringing her free hands up to grasp at the human's shoulders.

"What's wrong?" she asked Bella as their eyes met.

Bella sniffed and shrugged, looking out to the waves. Rosalie decided to wait on saying anything, as she could see Bella's mind toiling behind her eyes. Instead of speaking, she decided to brace herself for whatever Bella was about to say. No doubt it wasn't going to be pleasant, for Bella was never very good at hiding her emotions. And the poor girl looked as if she wanted to go cliff diving at the moment. Rosalie looked around, noting that the part of the beach they were currently occupying was scattered with only a handful of people so far away that they probably looked like specks to Bella. At least she wouldn't have to worry about either of them making a scene. They probably wouldn't be heard over the weather.

"I…I know that we agreed that you needed time. And, really, I'm okay with that," Bella began, lowering her head to the raging wind and rain that had started to increased.

Rosalie side stepped to where she was blocking Bella as best as she could from the weather and Bella lifted her head, smiling just a bit, although it was somber.

"But…it's been a few months now. I—we've skipped our first semester of college to get closer and I guess I just wanted some rea—

Bella's voice broke off and Rosalie watched her eyes focus on something in the distance. There was fear in Bella's eyes and instinctively Rosalie felt a low growl emanating from her chest as she followed the human's eyes to see a flash of red. The growl grew louder as Rosalie stepped in front of Bella, refusing to let her rage become irrational. Her sharp eyes locked onto the red and as a woman came into focus, it took only one glance for Rosalie to realize that this woman was just another face in the crowd, not the particular one the Cullens and Bella were after. The one they had defeated long ago, with a swift strike and a roll of the head.

"It's not Victoria," Rosalie said calmly. "Victoria's dead." Rosalie took a deep breath and closed herself for a moment, ashamed that she had to remind herself of that fact.

Bella's breathing didn't seem to relax and Rosalie turned quickly.

Bella flinched.

The air left Rosalie's body and she felt her insides starting to shake, as if any moment they would break apart and she would be washed out to see. She imagined herself being carried away by the waves, immobile, with Bella standing on the shore, watching apathetically as she disappeared in the fog. Taking a regretful step back, Rosalie stared at Bella, waiting for what she seemed was the inevitable 'talk.'

She had failed. She had failed herself and she had failed Bella. All that she had wanted was for Bella not to be afraid. And that flinch had said more than any words or even Bella's eyes could. It was all coming into place now. Rosalie closed her eyes and wondered if she would be able to weasel Edward's location out of her family, for Bella would no doubt want to see him again and tell him of her harrowing tales with one of the most beautiful and feared vampires in the world. Bella continued to stay silent and Rosalie found that she couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I don't know what else to say."

"You were growling. And I thought for sure that it was Victoria, since you were so…"

"What? Scary?"

Bella lowered her head and Rosalie nodded. "You still think I'm frightening after all this time."

"It's not that, Rosalie."

"Then what is it?"

Bella's chin began to quiver and Rosalie could see her eyes beginning to redden. She was two steps away from crying and she was doing nothing but furthering her pain. However, despite this, Rosalie was not going to leave Bella's side. She was going to stick by her until Bella herself told her that she wasn't needed. Only then would she leave. Bella deserved better than assumptions.

Tentatively, Rosalie outstretched her hand to see if Bella would take it. For a moment Bella didn't see it, but the moment her eyes saw that sculpted palm reaching out for her, she fell forward into Rosalie's chest and collapsed. The vampire was all too quick to catch her and hold her in place, closing her eyes as she reveled in Bella's touch for what may be the last time.

"I—I saw you turn and growl. And I thought for sure that Victoria, or someone, was back. And I thought we were outnumbered. And I thought of losing you and by the time you turned around to tell me there was no one there, I thought you were gone. In my head I…I don't know."

"I will never leave you, Bella."

"Not intentionally. But…if we were outnumbered, or if you got distracted or—

Rosalie held Bella tighter, trying to hide the smile from her face. "That's not going to happen, Bella."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's simple. I protect the people I love. And no one really can get in the way of that, can they?"

She heard Bella inhale, as if she was about to give a response, then her body went rigid with revelation. Bella lifted her head and eyed Rosalie unsurely. The vampire lifted her eyebrows, waiting for Bella to come to terms. It took her a moment to finally be confident with her finding, but once she was, she smiled.

"Hey…" she half whined, narrowing her eyes at Rosalie. "You thought you were being clever, didn't you?"

"I thought it was very clever. It took you a moment to grasp, didn't it?"

"Because I was shocked."

"Hence: Cleverness."

"Yeah, sure," Bella laughed, before straightening up to kiss Rosalie sweetly.

"So, what now?" Bella asked as she pulled away.

"That's entirely up to you," Rosalie said simply, with hard eyes that meant she was extremely grounded in that decision.

"You mean you don't get a say in the matter at all?"

"No. You've dealt with me for this long. Now it's all about you." Rosalie lifted Bella's hand and kissed it softly, bringing her fingers to press along Bella's artery. "And I'm serious."

Bella's eyes widened and she looked from her wrist to Rosalie's eyes, and found no lies in either of them. This was it. Bella was getting the chance to make the decision she had always wanted. She smiled at Rosalie, who returned it easily and squeezed her hand. Bella then closed her eyes and thought for a moment. It was quiet then except for the weather. Rosalie watched Bella intently, more than willing to do what Bella was most likely going to ask of her but also thinking about whatever else Bella was going to choose. Rosalie almost chuckled to herself. She was planning out her life. Now eight plus years old, she was planning out her life.

Bella's eyes opened and she greeted Rosalie with a smile, who returned it.

"You know, you were telling me about how beautiful Dartmouth looked in the fall…. Perhaps we could take this entire year off, and see how school suits me."

Rosalie looked thoroughly surprised and Bella couldn't contain her chuckle.

"You're absolutely certain?" Rosalie inquired, as she began leading Bella down the beach back towards her car.

"For the moment I am. Besides, it'll be an interesting character study of one another, don't you think?" Bella answered as she wrapped her arms around Rosalie, squeezing her tightly.

"It'll be something to say the least."

"Hey, Rosalie?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too. But don't push it."


End file.
